Nonwetting “white graphene” films

Nonwetting (superhydrophobicity) is currently of great interest in advanced materials research for self-cleaning applications, although it has been a well-known phenomenon in nature (e.g. in lotus leaves) for a long time. Aiming at widening the potential applications of synthetic superhydrophobic films, we have used a noncatalytic chemical vapor deposition method to prepare superhydrophobic films consisting of boron nitride (BN) nanosheets, also known as “white graphenes”. A mixture of boron (B) and boron trioxide (B2O3) powder was used as a new precursor to grow such nano-rough films. The peculiar surface topography of the films induced a nonwetting behavior which was manifested by the picking up of external particles through water droplets rolling on their surface. The nonwetting tendency of the films is explained based on the interactions of the dipole moments of polar water molecules and BN nanosheets.

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