A widely applicable method to fabricate underwater superoleophobic surfaces with low oil-adhesion on different metals by a femtosecond laser

In this paper, a one-step way to realize underwater superoleophobicity and low oil-adhesion on various metals by femtosecond laser ablation was proposed. The laser ablated aluminum surface showed hierarchical rough microstructure composed of abundant micro-holes and nano-particles. The oil contact angle on the as-prepared Al surface reached up to 157 degrees and the oil sliding angle was just 7 degrees to a 1,2-dichloroethane droplet in water. In addition, various oils including chloroform, hexadecane, n-dodecane, decane, liquid paraffin, and petroleum ether also showed underwater superoleophobicity on the structured aluminum surface. What's more, other metals such as iron, copper, molybdenum, and stainless steel were ablated, respectively, through the same method. Due to the formation of rough microstructures and their intrinsic high surface energy, they all exhibited remarkable underwater ultralow oil-adhesive superoleophobicity. Such one-fit-all method with anti-oil-pollution can be a suit for an ocean of metals, which undoubtedly will be used in underwater precise instruments, such as vessels, underwater detectors, and oil-water separation device.