Fabrication of amphiphobic surface by using titanium anodization for large-area three-dimensional substrates

Superamphiphobic functional Ti foils were fabricated using anodization techniques. By varying the supply voltage and anodization time, a two-step anodization method was used to maximize the contact angle of water and various oils. The morphology of the TiO2 nanotube surface is important to achieve superamphiphobicitiy. The anodized surface maintained good superamphiphobic stability with long-term storage. Furthermore, the wettability properties toward both water and various oils can be easily and reversibly switched from hydrophobic and oleophobic to hydrophilic and oleophilic, respectively, and vice versa via air-plasma treatment and fluorination. The developed simple technique can be applied to any large-area three-dimensional surfaces to fabricate amphiphobic Ti surfaces. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.