Growth of hierarchical gold clusters for use in superomniphobic electrodes

We developed a method to fabricate a superomniphobic gold electrode by synthesizing hierarchical gold clusters on a gold substrate and treating the surface with low surface energy materials. The reduction of gold ions was repeated several times, causing the gold microparticles to grow in random directions and form hierarchical gold clusters. Treatment of the gold structures with perfluorothiol resulted in a superhydrophobic surface that also exhibited superoleophobicity for oils and liquids with surface tensions as low as 25.6 mN. The resulting electrode was not contaminated by hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquids, and by analyzing the current–voltage characteristics of the electrode with a PEDOT:PSS solution droplet, the electrode was found to be waterproof.