Turning a surface superrepellent even to completely wetting liquids

Turning a surface superrepellent even to completely wetting liquids

Superhydrophobic and superoleophobic surfaces have so far been made by roughening a hydrophobic material. However, no surfaces were able to repel extremely-low-energy liquids such as fluorinated solvents, which completely wet even the most hydrophobic material. We show how roughness alone, if made o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2014-11, Vol.346 (6213), p.1096-1100
Main Authors: Liu, Tingyi "Leo", Kim, Chang-Jin "CJ"
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Chemical suspensions
Contact
Droplets
Falling
Hydrophobic surfaces
Interfacial tension
Liquids
Materials
Mathematical surfaces
Nanostructure
Roughening
Silicon dioxide
Solids
Solvents
Surface chemistry
Suspended solids
Topology
Wetting
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Summary:Superhydrophobic and superoleophobic surfaces have so far been made by roughening a hydrophobic material. However, no surfaces were able to repel extremely-low-energy liquids such as fluorinated solvents, which completely wet even the most hydrophobic material. We show how roughness alone, if made of a specific doubly reentrant structure that enables very low liquid-solid contact fraction, can render the surface of any material superrepellent. Starting from a completely wettable material (silica), we micro- and nanostructure its surface to make it superomniphobic and bounce off all available liquids, including perfluorohexane. The same superomniphobicity is further confirmed with identical surfaces of a metal and a polymer. Free of any hydrophobic coating, the superomniphobic silica surface also withstands temperatures over 1000°C and resists biofouling.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203