Tunable wettability of metallic films with assistance of porous anodic aluminum oxide

Abstract

The present work demonstrates a simple method to prepare nanostructured Ni films with different morphologies with the assistance of porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes. A great distinction is observed as the Ni films deposited onto the top and bottom sides of AAO membranes. The wetting properties of as-prepared membranes are investigated by measuring the contact angles of water on the surfaces. Results show that the static water contact angle changes dramatically from 124°±1° to 45°±1° on different Ni films, implying a change of the wettability from hydrophobicity to hydrophilicity affected by the surface patterns. This versatile approach can be conducted on various materials with potential applications in a broad range of fields.