Fabrication, surface properties, and origin of superoleophobicity for a model textured surface

Inspired by the superhydrophobic effect displayed in nature, we set out to mimic the interplay between the chemistry and physics in the lotus leaf to see if the same design principle can be applied to control wetting and adhesion between toners and inks on various printing surfaces. Since toners and inks are organic materials, superoleophobicity has become our design target. In this work, we report the design and fabrication of a model superoleophobic surface on silicon wafer. The model surface was created by photolithography, consisting of texture made of arrays of ∼3 μm diameter pillars, ∼7 μm in height with a center-to-center spacing of 6 μm. The surface was then made oleophobic with a fluorosilane coating, FOTS, synthesized by the molecular vapor deposition technique with tridecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctyltrichlorosilane. Contact angle measurement shows that the surface exhibits super repellency toward water and oil (hexadecane) with a water and hexadecane contact angles at 156° and 158°, respectively. Since the sliding angles for both liquids are also very small (∼10°), we conclude that the model surface is both superhydrophobic and superoleophobic. By comparing with the contact angle data of the bare silicon surfaces (both smooth and textured), we also conclude that the superoleophobicity is a result of both surface texturing and fluorination. Results from investigations of the effects of surface modification and pillar geometry indicate that both surface oleophobicity and pillar geometry are contributors to the superoleophobicity. More specifically, we found that superoleophobicity can only be attained on our model textured surface when the flat surface coating has a relatively high oleophobicity (i.e., with a hexadecane contact angle of >73°). SEM examination of the pillars with higher magnification reveals that the side wall in each pillar is not smooth; rather it consists of a ∼300 nm wavy structure (due to the Bosch etching process) from top to bottom. Comparable textured surfaces with (a) smooth straight side wall pillars and (b) straight side wall pillars with a 500 nm re-entrant structure made of SiO(2) were fabricated and the surfaces were made oleophobic with FOTS analogously. Contact angle data indicate that only the textured surfaces with the re-entrant pillar structure are both superoleophobic and superhydrophobic. The result suggests that the wavy structure at the top of each pillar is the main geometrical contributor to the superoleophobic property observed in the model surface.