2021 Volume 62 Issue 6 Pages 836-845
Highly functional and multifunctional material surfaces may be created through fabrication of unusual surface structures. We fabricated mushroom-like nanostructures on a stainless steel surface by simple processes: heat treatment under an atmosphere of low partial pressure of oxygen, followed by electrochemical etching. Island-like titanium oxide was formed on the Ti-containing stainless steel surface by selective oxidation during heat treatment. The titanium oxide became the cap part of the mushroom-like nanostructure and the stem part was fabricated by selective dissolution during electrochemical etching. Detailed analysis revealed that the cap part of the mushroom-like nanostructure was mainly composed of γ-Ti3O5, and the stem part was composed of the stainless steel substrate. The contact resistance was significantly reduced by the fabrication of the mushroom-like nanostructures. The protrusions of electrically conductive γ-Ti3O5 can contribute to the reduction of the contact resistance. The mushroom-like nanostructures improved the hydrophilicity of the surface without fluorine coating, but improved the hydrophobicity of the fluorine-coated surface. The contact between the stainless steel surface and the water droplet was in the Wenzel state.
