Riping Liu

Bio: Riping Liu is an academic researcher from Soochow University (Suzhou). The author has contributed to research in topics: Porous medium & Wetting. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 5 publications receiving 40 citations.

A Durable, Flexible, Large‐Area, Flame‐Retardant, Early Fire Warning Sensor with Built‐In Patterned Electrodes

Abstract: Fire has been giving rise to enormous loss of life and property worldwide annually. Early fire warning represents an active and effective means to avoid potential fire hazards before huge losses occur. Despite encouraging advances in early fire warning systems, to date there remains an urgent lack of the design of a durable, flexible, and universal early fire warning sensor for large-area practical applications. Herein, facile fabrication of a durable, flexible, large-scale early fire-warning sensor is demonstrated through constructing a hierarchical flame retardant nanocoating, composed of graphene oxide, poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate), and hexagonal boron nitride, on cotton fabric in combination with the parallelly patterned conductive ink as built-in electrodes. As-designed large-scale sensor (>33 cm and extendable) exhibits a short alarming time of <3 s in response to external abnormal high temperature, heat, or fire. In addition to high washability, flexibility, resistance to abrasion and wear, this hierarchical nanocoating can self-extinguish, thus enabling the sensor to continue warning during fire. This work offers an inventive concept to develop a universal and large-scale very early fire-monitoring platform, which opens up new opportunities for their practical applications in effectively reducing fire-related casualties and economic losses.

Durable Superamphiphobic and Photocatalytic Fabrics: Tackling the Loss of Super-Non-Wettability Due to Surface Organic Contamination.

Abstract: Superamphiphobic surfaces are self-cleaning against various liquids and dirt particles but they are not resistant to trace organic contaminants, the accumulation of which on surface would cause a decline in the liquid repellency. In this work, superamphiphobic and photocatalytic fabrics are developed that allow the elimination of various organic substances from surface by using photocatalytic decomposition. The fabrics have a contact angle of 163, 156, and 158° to water, hexadecane, and sunflower oil, respectively. They are also demonstrated to be able to decompose methylene blue, oleic acid and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) under UV light. The removal of human body grease or laundry detergent from surface to recover the super-non-wettability was demonstrated through the natural sunlight exposure. The slight damage on superamphiphobicity caused by the photocatalytic activity can be cured with simple heat treatment. In addition, the superamphiphobic fabrics show excellent durability against abrasion and repeated washing. The photocatalytic and heat-curing strategy reported here may bring superamphiphobic fabrics one step closer to practical application in various fields.

One-pot fabrication of hydrophilic-oleophobic cellulose nanofiber-silane composite aerogels for selectively absorbing water from oil–water mixtures

Abstract: While cellulose nanofiber is advantageous for the preparation of porous materials with selective absorption, cellulose-based, hydrophilic-oleophobic aerogels are only prepared through complicated surface-modification. Herein, we report a facile one-pot fabrication of hydrophilic-oleophobic composite aerogels firstly through polycondensation of cellulose nanofiber and three silane coupling agents. The hydrophilic-oleophobic aerogels exhibited interconnected macroporous structures, robust compressive property (without failure at a high strain of 80%), excellent water resistance (without failure even at 100 °C, pH = 1 or pH = 12), the ability to selectively absorb water from oil–water mixtures, and excellent reusability (without significant decrease in hexadecane contact angle and absorption capacity after five absorption–regeneration cycles). The facile one-pot polycondensation and unique hydrophilicity-oleophobicity enabled the aerogels to be practical for removing water from oil–water mixtures.

Emulsion-templated porous polymers: drying condition-dependent properties.

Abstract: Macroporous materials templated using high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) are promising for various applications. To date, new strategies to create emulsion-templated porous materials and to tune their properties (especially wetting properties) are still highly required. Here, we report the fabrication of macroporous polymers from oil-in-water HIPEs, bereft of conventional monomers and crosslinking monomers, by simultaneous ring-opening polymerization and interface-catalyzed condensation, without heating or removal of oxygen. The resulting macroporous polymers showed drying condition-dependent wetting properties (e.g., hydrophilicity–oleophilicity from freezing drying, hydrophilicity–oleophobicity from vacuum drying, and amphiphobicity from heat drying), densities (from 0.019 to 0.350 g cc−1), and compressive properties. Hydrophilic–oleophilic and amphiphobic porous polymers turned hydrophilic–oleophobic simply by heating and protonation, respectively. The hydrophilic–oleophobic porous polymers could remove a small amount of water from oil–water mixtures (including surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions) by selective absorption and could remove water-soluble dyes from oil–water mixtures. Moreover, the transition in wetting properties enabled the removal of water and dyes in a controlled manner. The feature that combines simply preparation, tunable wetting properties and densities, robust compression, high absorption capacity (rate) and controllable absorption makes the porous polymers to be excellent candidates for the removal of water and water-soluble dyes from oil–water mixtures.

Self-healing type super-amphiphobic and photocatalytic double self-cleaning coating and method for preparing same

Abstract: The invention discloses a self-healing type super-amphiphobic and photocatalytic double self-cleaning coating and a method for preparing the same. Mixed solution with fluorine-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (F-POSS) and photocatalysis particles is coated on the surfaces of base materials to form the self-healing type super-amphiphobic and photocatalytic double self-cleaning coating. The self-healing type super-amphiphobic and photocatalytic double self-cleaning coating and the method have the advantages that the self-healing type super-amphiphobic and photocatalytic double self-cleaningcoating has super-hydrophobic and super-oleophobic super-amphiphobic performance, is capable of photocatalytically degrading organic pollutants adhered on the surfaces of the self-healing type super-amphiphobic and photocatalytic double self-cleaning coating, can be self-healed and can be placed at the room temperature or can be appropriately heated, and accordingly degradation of the super-amphiphobic performance due to long-time illumination can be repaired; the self-healing type super-amphiphobic and photocatalytic double self-cleaning coating is applicable to the surfaces of the base materials for glass, wood, building external walls, diversified textiles and the like with the requirements on self-cleaning functions.

Multifunctional MXene/Chitosan-Coated Cotton Fabric for Intelligent Fire Protection.

Abstract: Multifunctional intelligent fireproof cotton fabrics are urgently demanded in the era of the Internet of Things. Herein, a novel high fire safety cotton fabric (denoted as MXene/CCS@CF) with temperature sensing, fire-warning, piezoresistivity, and Joule heating performance was developed by coating MXene nanosheet and carboxymethyl chitosan (CCS) via an eco-friendly layer-by-layer assembly method. Benefiting from the thermoelectric characteristic and high conductivity of MXene nanosheet, MXene/CCS@CF exhibited accurate wide-range temperature sensing performance. When being burned, it could repeatedly trigger the fire-warning system in less than 10 s. More importantly, MXene/CCS@CF showed outstanding flame retardancy because of the synergistic carbonization between MXene and CCS. The limiting oxygen index of MXene/CCS@CF was as high as 45.5%, and the char length was only 33 mm after the vertical burning test. Meanwhile, its peak heat release rate reduced more than 66%. Besides, the obtained fabric could detect a variety of human motions. Moreover, the controllable Joule heating performance enabled the fabric to be used in extreme cold weather. This work provides a facile approach to fabricating a next-generation high fire safety cotton fabric, showing promising applications in firefighting, home automation, and smart transportation.