Hydrophobicity of Highly Ordered Nanorod Polycrystalline Nickel and Silver Surfaces

Abstract

Highly ordered nickel and silver nanorods arrays prepared by alumina template assisted electrodeposition were investigated to determine the effect of the array geometry on metal surface hydrophobicity and adhesion forces. The nanorod geometry, clustering and pinning were used to characterize surface hydrophobicity and its modulation. A contribution of metal crystallographic orientation to the surface energy was calculated. To characterize nanorod array surface properties and elucidate the source of the particle adhesion effects has been calculated. The dispersive components of surface tension D S γ and surface polarizability k S , as surface features that markedly characterize hydrophobicity and adhesion, were calculated. The highest hydrophobicity was found for Ag nanorods with aspect ratio of 10 then Ni nanorods with aspect ratio 10. The same geometry of nanorods particles resulted in different surface hydrophobicity and it was ascribed to the orientation of Ag and Ni crystals formed on the top of nanorods. Due to high hydrophobicity nanorod array surfaces could be used as an antifouling surface in medicine to select areas on implant surface not to be colonized by cells and tissues.

New insights into hydrophobicity at nanostructured surfaces: Experiments and computational models

“…27 We have also focused on the study of the effect of hydrophobicity on a regularly arranged metal nanorod layer. 10 Techniques to endow the surface with nano-scale roughness, such as etching and lithography, sol-gel processing, and electrospinning, have been implemented, while the surface chemistry has been modified by using strategies involving physical and chemical adsorption. 4 The self-cleaning of a lotus leaf is ascribed by two criteria: the hierarchically combined micro- and nano-scaled structure (schematically shown in Figure 1(g)) of the surface (physical factor) and the low surface tension compound covered on the structure (chemical factor).…”

“…Surface wettability is influenced by many features, such as the chemical heterogeneity of the surface, its asperity, and disposition of surface structures, and in the case of atomically flat surfaces, it is also influenced by the values of Miller indices. [8][9][10][11] Hydrophobicity is one of the key attributes of advanced microelectronics, acting as a safeguard for electronic devices that prevents them from undergoing corrosion, hygroscopic swelling, and more importantly, preventing metal surfaces from oxidation, thereby increasing the lifetime of the material. Hydrophobic materials are currently considered to be one of the most prominent and efficient materials for academic and industrial purposes due to their numerous advantages, which include self-cleaning, drag reduction, anti-biofouling, and corrosion resistance.…”