Xinjian Feng, Lin Feng, Meihua Jin, Jin Zhai, Lei Jiang, Daoben Zhu 

The wettability is a very important property governed by both the chemical composition and the geometrical structure of solid surface.  Super-hydrophobic surface (with water contact angle larger than 150 degree) and super-hydrophilic surface (with water contact angle close to 0 degree) have been extensively investigated in recent years.  In this communication, the remarkable wettability of aligned ZnO nanorod films synthesized via a solution approach was studied.  Combing with UV irradiation and the following dark storage, the films show reversible super-hydrophobicity to super-hydrophilicity transition properties.  Such reversible transition of surface wettability is a completely new concept for preparing smart film.

JACS, 2004, 126, 62-63.