Effect of topography and chemical treatment on the hydrophobicity and antibacterial activities of micropatterned aluminium surfaces

Abstract

Superhydrophobic surfaces with high adhesion have attracted huge attention in recent research works due to their versatile applications including transportation of microdroplet without any loss. Modification of metallic surfaces to achieve such properties is important to extend their applications. Especially, the superhydrophobic surfaces with very low bacterial adhesion have attracted intense attention in medical, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Here, we have fabricated different micropatterns on aluminium surfaces using a simple and cost-effective micro-imprinting technique. The surface chemistry was modified through a coating of low surface energy material 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctyl-trichlorosilane (FOTS) using vapor deposition technique. Surface morphology of the samples was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact profilometer. Results show a significant influence of the surface morphology on the wetting, adhesion and anti-bacterial properties. Surfaces composed of discrete micropillars showed higher de-wetting compared to surface containing continuous zig-zag micro lines even despite lower roughness factor. However, the opposite trend was observed in case of adhesion. These results are explained based on wetting state and difference in liquid-air interface pinning. Further, the developed samples showed higher water-retaining ability compared to rose-petal along with superhydrophobicity. The surface with micropillar structures with higher roughness factor exhibited improved non-fouling behavior which has been quantified by spot assay and atomic force microscopy (AFM). This study opens up the possibility of fabricating multifunctional metal surfaces on a large scale by a cost-effective, environment friendly and easily scalable processing route.