Controlling the position of metal sulfide architectures is prerequisite and facilitates their device applications in solar cells, light-emitting diodes, and many other optoelectronic fields. Thanks to ambient-connected gas network trapped upon superhydrophobic surfaces, H₂S gas can be continuously transported and reacted with metal ions along solid/liquid/gas triphase contact interface. Therefore, precisely positioning metal sulfide microstructure arrays are generated accordingly. The growth mechanisms as well as influencing factors are investigated to tailor the morphology, structure, and chemical composition of these metal sulfide materials. This interface-mediated strategy can be widely applied to many other metal sulfides, such as PbS, MnS, Ag₂S, and CuS. In particular, heterostructured metal sulfide architectures, such as PbS/CdS concentric microflower arrays, can be generated by stepwise replacement of metal ions inside liquid, exhibiting the advanced applications of this interface-mediated growth strategy.

Bead-shaped 1D structures are of great interest due to their unique applications in mesoscopic optics/electronics and their specific ability to collect tiny droplets. Here, a novel method to fabricate aligning bead-shaped nanowire arrays assisted by highly adhesive superhydrophobic surfaces based on a micropillar guiding strategy is presented. Different from previous fabrication techniques, bead-shaped nanowires generated in this method are strictly oriented in a large scale. Rayleigh instability, which occurs at ultralow polymer concentration, can introduce bead-shaped nanowires at the cost of structural strength. Thus, PS spheres are more suitable to serve as bead building blocks to generate firm bead-shaped nanowire arrays. The bead number is tunable by tailoring the polystyrene-sphere/polyvinyl-formal ratio. Furthermore, as-prepared bead-shaped nanowires have the unique ability to directionally drive tiny drops and collect coalesced microdroplets when placed in mist. With an increase in humidity, the nanowires show a segmented swelling behavior in the “bead” parts whereas the “joint nanowire” parts remain the same. Because such bead-shaped nanowires are formed regularly, collected microdroplets upon the beads would not interact with each other. The findings offer new insight into the alignment of bead-shaped nanostructures and might provide promising opportunities in fundamental research and for industrial applications.