Important Role of Nanopore Morphology in Superoleophobic Hierarchical Surfaces

This work reports the importance of nanopore morphology in designing super liquid-repellent submicropillar/nanopore hierarchical surfaces. The hierarchical surfaces were fabricated using a combined process of oblique angle sputter deposition of aluminum with subsequent anodizing, and the surfaces were coated with a fluorinated alkyl phosphate layer to reduce the surface energy. The size of the nanopores, the interpore distance, and the porosity of the anodic films on the submicrometer pillars were controlled by varying the anodizing and pore-widening conditions. The present study demonstrates that super liquid repellency can be achieved on intrinsically oleophilic surfaces by introducing hierarchical submicropillar/nanopore morphology even for oils with surface energies as low as similar to 25 mN m(-1). The porosity in the submicrometer pillars was a key factor in influencing the contact angle hysteresis; higher porosity is needed to reduce the contact angle hysteresis.