photoswitchable surface?

Recent cool paper: JACS 2006, 128 (45), 14458 - 14459

A surface that can switch from hydrophobic to hydrophilic when UV or visible light is applied? Apparently it's been tried before, without much success. The interesting thing here is that the surface roughness strongly enhances the hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity of the material.

Interesting stuff. Surely there are applications for this, too...microfluidics? Sensors, maybe? This is new to me, so I thought I'd pass it on. (Remember, for undergrads, journal reading is not yet a matter of life and death.)

Thanks much to Derek Lowe for linking me...thanks also to these awesome people. (Yesterday: 28 visitors. Today: 54 and counting...) I guess this is incentive to keep posting on a regular basis...