Existing separation technologies struggle to recover oil and water concurrently from surfactant-stabilized emulsions to achieve the goal of near-zero liquid discharge. We present a Janus channel of membranes (JCM) that features a confined architecture constructed of a pair of hydrophilic and hydrophobic membranes, which allows for concurrent, highly efficient recovery of oil and water from surfactant-stabilized emulsions. The confined Janus channel can amplify the interplay of the membrane pair through a feedback loop that involves enrichment and demulsification. Our JCM achieves exceptional oil and water recoveries of up to 97 and 75%, respectively, with near 99.9% purities. Moreover, its versatility in handling diverse emulsions may enable near-zero liquid discharge for a range of separations.

By leveraging tannic-acid-enabled dynamic interactions, we designed an ionic hydrogel with boosted bulk and interfacial properties such as ultra-stretchability, remarkable self-healing capability and robust adhesion.

Fine design of surface charge properties of polyamide membranes is crucial for selective ionic and molecular sieving. Traditional membranes face limitations due to their inherent negative charge and limited charge modification range. Herein, we report a facile ionic liquid-decoupled bulk/interfacial diffusion strategy to elaborate the double charge flips of polyamide membranes, enabling on-demand transformation from inherently negative to highly positive and near-neutral charges. The key to these flips lies in the meticulous utilization of ionic liquid that decouples intertwined bulk/interfacial diffusion, enhancing interfacial while inhibiting bulk diffusion. These charge-tunable polyamide membranes can be customized for impressive separation performance, for example, profound Cl⁻/SO₄²⁻ selectivity above 470 in sulfate recovery, ultrahigh Li⁺/Mg²⁺ selectivity up to 68 in lithium extraction, and effective divalent ion removal in pharmaceutical purification, surpassing many reported polyamide nanofiltration membranes. This advancement adds a new dimension to in the design of advanced polymer membranes via interfacial polymerization.

Bubbles have been extensively explored as energy carriers ranging from boiling heat transfer and targeted cancer diagnosis. Yet, despite notable progress, the kinetic energy inherent in small bubbles remains difficult to harvest. Here, we develop a transistor-inspired bubble energy generator for directly and efficiently harvesting energy from small bubbles. The key points lie in designing dielectric surface with high-density electric charges and tailored surface wettability as well as transistor-inspired electrode configuration. The synergy between these features facilitates fast bubble spreading and subsequent departure, transforms the initial liquid/solid interface into gas/solid interface under the gating of bubble, and yields an output at least one order of magnitude higher than existing studies. We also show that the output can be further enhanced through rapid bubble collapse at the air/liquid interface and multiple bubbles synchronization. We envision that our design will pave the way for small bubble-based energy harvesting in liquid media.