Methods of generating liquidphobic surfaces
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to methods of generating liquidphobic surfaces, and surfaces prepared by these methods. The methods include generating sub-micron-structured surfaces and coating these surfaces with a liquidphobic coating, such as a hydrophobic coating.
1. A method of generating a liquidphobic surface, comprising:
(a) providing a first substrate;
(b) providing a sub-micron-structured surface on the first substrate by growing upstanding sub-micron nanowires on the substrate which extend perpendicular to the substrate, the nanowires having an aspect ratio (length:width) of 2 or greater;
(c) transferring a sub-micron-structure complementary to the sub-micron-structured surface to a surface of a second substrate; and
(d) disposing a liquidphobic coating on the surface of the second substrate;
wherein the transferring in (c) comprises evaporating and/or plating metal onto the sub-micron-structured surface of the first substrate, resulting in a complementary sub-micron-structure in the metal.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing comprises providing a first substrate comprising a metal.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the providing comprises providing a nickel substrate.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the disposing comprises disposing a perfluorinated organic coating.
5. A method of generating a liquidphobic surface, comprising:
(a) generating a sub-micron-structured surface on a first substrate by growing sub-micron upstanding nanowires on the substrate which extend perpendicular to the substrate, the nanowires having an aspect ratio (length:width) of 2 or greater;
(b) transferring a sub-micron-structure complementary to the sub-micron-structured surface to a surface of a second substrate; and
(c) disposing a liquidphobic coating on the surface of the second substrate;
wherein the transferring in (b) comprises evaporating and/or plating metal onto the sub-micron-structured surface of the first substrate, resulting in a complementary sub-micron-structure in the metal.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the generating in (a) comprises:
i. providing a substrate;
ii. generating a sub-micron-structured surface on the surface of the substrate to generate a transfer substrate; and
iii. transferring a sub-micron-structure complementary to the sub-micron-structured surface of the transfer substrate to a surface of the first substrate.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the providing comprises providing a silicon substrate.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein nickel is evaporated and then plated onto the sub-micron-structured surface of the first substrate.