Femtosecond laser fabrication of a gradient-wettability mesh for spilled oil crossflow collection

Efficient continuous clean-up of large-scale oil spills is a global challenge. Herein, we present a simple method for fabrication of a gradient-wettability hydrophilic tilted mesh for fast spilled oil crossflow collection. After one-step femtosecond laser irradiation, the gradient-wettability mesh is tightly assembled and consists of four different pore size meshes, which possesses nanoripple structures. Meanwhile, the gradient-wettability mesh has a higher oil collection rate than single wettability meshes. This femtosecond-laser-induced gradient-wettability mesh design will have practical applications for efficient crossflow collection of large-area oil spills.