Amphiphobic Surface of NiAl Layered Double Hydroxide Nanostructure on the Micro-Patterned Polycarbonate Substrate

The pollution from organic liquids and oils leads to degradation of superhydrophobic surfaces, accelerating research on the development of amphiphobic surfaces, which are repellent to both water and oils. In this paper, NiAl layered double hydroxide (LDH) was synthesized on the polymer substrate with microscale pillar array via a hydrothermal method. The fabricated surface exhibited a hierarchical micro/nano dual-sized structure. The surface chemistry was modified by drysurf solution to reduce the adverse influence from oxygen-containing functional groups of the NiAl LDH. The result showed that the surface possessed good amphiphobicity because of the large entrapment of air and low surface energy. Without any usage of commercial adhesives, the coating was in-situ formed on the polymer substrate with good adhesion quality. In addition, the surface performed well in a series of mechanical and chemical tests, such as the water spraying, sand dropping, tape, and immersion tests. The superior properties promised the as-synthesized amphiphobic surface to be a good candidate in the practical applications.