Facile preparation of super-hydrophobic and super-oleophilic silica film on stainless steel mesh via sol-gel process

A super-hydrophobic and super-oleophilic silica film on stainless steel mesh was obtained by simple sol-gel method using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) as precursors. The super-hydrophobic and super-oleophilic properties were achieved owing to the hierarchical structure of the silica film with methyl groups terminated domains constructed on the mesh. The effects of the particle size, molar ration of MTES/TEOS, molar concentration of TEOS and aging of the silica sol on the hydrophobicity of the silica film were discussed. With increasing the dimensional size of silica particle, molar ration of MTES/TEOS, molar concentration of TEOS and aging period, the hydrophobicity of the silica film can be enhanced due to the increase of the surface roughness or coverage of the methyl groups. Besides, diiodomethane droplet can spread out on the silica film within 6.71 s for the capillary force and intrinsic oleophilicity of the methyl groups.