Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), as an effective method to produce green hydrogen, is greatly impeded by inefficient mass transfer, i.e., bubble adhesion on electrode, bubble dispersion in the vicinity of electrode, and poor dissolved H ₂ diffusion, which results in blocked electrocatalytic area and large H ₂ concentration overpotential. Here, we report a superaerophilic/superaerophobic (SAL/SAB) cooperative electrode to efficiently promote bubble transfer by asymmetric Laplace pressure and accelerate dissolved H ₂ diffusion through reducing diffusion distance. Benefiting from the enhanced mass transfer, the overpotential for the SAL/SAB cooperative electrode at −10 mA cm ⁻² is only −19 mV, compared to −61 mV on the flat Pt electrode. By optimizing H ₂ SO ₄ concentration, the SAL/SAB cooperative electrode can achieve ultrahigh current density (−1867 mA cm ⁻² ) at an overpotential of −500 mV. We can envision that the SAL/SAB cooperative strategy is an effective method to improve HER efficiency and stimulate the understanding of various gas-involved processes.

Materials with selective wettabilities are widely used for effective liquid separation in environmental protection and the chemical industry. Current liquid separation strategies are primarily based on covalent modification to control the membranes’ surface energy, or are based on gating mechanisms to accurately tune the gating threshold of the transport substance. Herein, we demonstrate a simple and universal polarity-based protocol to regulate the wetting behavior of superamphiphilic porous nanofibrous membranes by infusing a high polar component of surface energy liquid into the membranes, forming a relatively stable liquid-infusion-interface to repel the immiscible low polar component of surface energy liquid. Even immiscible liquids with a surface energy difference as small as 2 mJ m⁻², or emulsions stabilized by emulsifiers can be effectively separated. Furthermore, the infused liquid can be substituted by another immiscible liquid with a higher polar component of surface energy, affording successive separation of multiphase liquids.