Super-hydrophobic nickel films with micro-nano hierarchical structure prepared by electrodeposition for appliance industry

Super-hydrophobic Nickel films were prepared by a simple and low cost electrodeposition method. The surface morphology of the films characterized by FE-SEM exhibit hierarchical structure with micro-nano cones array, which can be responsible for their super-hydrophobic characteristic (water contact angle is over 120 degree) without any chemical modification. The wettability of the film can be varied from super-hydrophobic (water contact angle 143 degree) to relatively hydrophilic (water contact angle 87 degree) by controlling the size of the micro-nano cones. The mechanism of the hydrophobic characteristic of nickel films with this unique structure was illustrated by several models. Such novel micro-nanostructure and its special wettability are expected to be applied in miniature aquatic devices, micro-fluid devices, satellite antenna, and conductors with self-cleaning surfaces etc.