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Science 7 December 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5856, pp. 1618 - 1622
DOI: 10.1126/science.1148326
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Reports

Designing Superoleophobic Surfaces

Anish Tuteja,1 Wonjae Choi,2 Minglin Ma,1 Joseph M. Mabry,3 Sarah A. Mazzella,3 Gregory C. Rutledge,1 Gareth H. McKinley,2* Robert E. Cohen1*

Understanding the complementary roles of surface energy and roughness on natural nonwetting surfaces has led to the development of a number of biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces, which exhibit apparent contact angles with water greater than 150 degrees and low contact angle hysteresis. However, superoleophobic surfaces—those that display contact angles greater than 150 degrees with organic liquids having appreciably lower surface tensions than that of water—are extremely rare. Calculations suggest that creating such a surface would require a surface energy lower than that of any known material. We show how a third factor, re-entrant surface curvature, in conjunction with chemical composition and roughened texture, can be used to design surfaces that display extreme resistance to wetting from a number of liquids with low surface tension, including alkanes such as decane and octane.

1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3 Air Force Research Laboratory, Edwards Air Force Base, CA 93524, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gareth{at}mit.edu (G.H.M.); recohen{at}mit.edu (R.E.C.)

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