‘Rewritable’ and ‘liquid-specific’ recognizable wettability pattern

Bio-inspired surfaces with wettability patterns display a unique ability for liquid manipulations. Sacrificing anti-wetting property for confining liquids irrespective of their surface tension (γ_LV), remains a widely accepted basis for developing wettability patterns. In contrast, we introduce a ‘liquid-specific’ wettability pattern through selectively sacrificing the slippery property against only low γ_LV (<30 mN m⁻¹) liquids. This design includes a chemically reactive crystalline network of phase-transitioning polymer, which displays an effortless sliding of both low and high γ_LV liquids. Upon its strategic chemical modification, droplets of low γ_LV liquids fail to slide, rather spill arbitrarily on the tilted interface. In contrast, droplets of high γ_LV liquids continue to slide on the same modified interface. Interestingly, the phase–transition driven rearrangement of crystalline network allows to revert the slippery property against low γ_LV liquids. Here, we report a ‘rewritable’ and ‘liquid-specific’ wettability pattern for high throughput screening, separating, and remoulding non-aqueous liquids.