Simple fabrication of superamphiphobic copper surfaces with multilevel structures

Copper is widely used in various fields owing to its great electrical and thermal conductivity and so on. Once Coper is endowed with other properties, such as superamphiphobic, and the corresponding applications can be broadened. Hereby, we presented a convenient and cost-effective method to fabricate a superamphiphobic surface on the copper sheet. By virtue of scanning electron microscope (SEM), it is clear that hierarchical structures composed of micrometer-scale flake-like CuO and nanometer-scale Ag particles were formed on the copper surface by an alkali assistant oxidation process and a displacement reaction. After chemical modification of 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecanethiol, the surface with dual-scale structures was endowed with super-repellent ability towards water and several organic liquids with much lower surface tension, such as diesel, crude oil, colza oil and so on. Such superamphiphobic copper surfaces exhibit high contact angles (>150°) of water, various oil, and ethanol-water (with different mass fraction) droplets, as well as corresponding low sliding angles (<10°), which possess excellent self-cleaning and oil-resistant properties. In addition, enhanced corrosion resistance of the as-prepared surface was found in potential-dynamic polarization measurement.