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A general, rapid and solvent-free approach to fabricating nanostructured polymer surfaces

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Abstract

A general, rapid and solvent-free approach is proposed to fabricate nanostructured polymer surfaces by coupling ultrasonic vibration and anodized aluminum oxide templating. With our approach, hollow nanorods or nanofibers with controlled diameter and length are prepared on polymer surfaces. The whole fabrication process is completed in ∼30 s and equally applicable to polymers of different crystalline structures. The wettability of the as-fabricated polymer surfaces (being hydrophilic, hydrophobic, highly hydrophobic or even superhydrophobic) is readily regulated by adjusting the welding time from 0 s to a maximum of 10 s. Our approach can be a promising industrial basis for manufacturing functional nanomaterials in the fields of electronics, optics, sensors, biology, medicine, coating, or fluidic technologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Space Applied Physics and Chemistry, Ministry of Education and Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Science and Technology, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Wei Tian

  2. Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF), and Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    LongBiao Huang & V. A. L. Roy

  3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and Lehn Institute of Functional Materials, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    DaWei Wang

Authors
  1. Wei Tian
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  2. LongBiao Huang
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  4. V. A. L. Roy
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Correspondence to Wei Tian or V. A. L. Roy.

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Tian, W., Huang, L., Wang, D. et al. A general, rapid and solvent-free approach to fabricating nanostructured polymer surfaces. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 57, 2328–2333 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-014-5647-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-014-5647-5

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