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The surface free energy is one of the most fundamental properties of solids,hence, manipulating the surface energy and thereby the wetting properties ofsolids, has tremendous potential for various physical, chemical, biological aswell as industrial processes. Typically, this is achieved by either chemicalmodification or by controlling the hierarchical structures of surfaces. Here wereport a phenomenon whereby the wetting properties of vermiculite laminates arecontrolled by the hydrated cations on the surface and in the interlamellarspace. We find that by exploiting this mechanism, vermiculite laminates can betuned from superhydrophillic to hydrophobic simply by exchanging the cations;hydrophilicity decreases with increasing cation hydration free energy, exceptfor lithium. Lithium, which has a higher hydration free energy than potassium,is found to provide a superhydrophilic surface due to its anomalous hydratedstructure at the vermiculite surface. Building on these findings, wedemonstrate the potential application of superhydrophilic lithium exchangedvermiculite as a thin coating layer on microfiltration membranes to resistfouling, and thus, we address a major challenge for oil-water separationtechnology.

Cation controlled wetting properties of vermiculite membranes and its potential for fouling resistant oil-water separation