Wettability designing by ZnO periodical surface textures

A facile and effective aqueous chemical synthesis approach towards well control of periodical ZnO textures in large-scale areas is reported, by which considerable adjusting of surface wettability can be realized. With the assistance of polystyrene spheres monolayer template and morphology control agent, we succeeded in preparing a series of ordered ZnO microbowls with different sag height. It was found that the contact angle could be well adjusted by changing geometry of microbowl. Such novel, ordered arrays are expected to exploit the great potentiality in waterproof or self-cleaning micro/nanodevices, and even microfluidic devices.

A facile and effective aqueous chemical synthesis approach towards well control of periodical ZnO bowl-like textures in large-scale areas is reported. Tunable structure-induced wettability of the film was fully displayed.Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (72 K)Download as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights
► Ordered polystyrene sphere monolayer colloidal crystals are served as template.
► Periodical bowl-like ZnO textures can be prepared by aqueous chemical synthesis approach.
► Trisodium citrate acts as morphology control agent to control the sag height of ZnO microbowl.
► The contact angle can be changed by changing the sag height geometry of microbowl.