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We demonstrate that a recently developed coating comprised of superhydrophobic silicone nanofilaments can be selectively functionalized to yield well defined micrometer scale patterns of contrasting wettabilites (superhydrophobic/hydrophilic and amphiphobic/amphiphilic). Nanofilament ablation have been performed by near‐ultraviolet (UV) laser at 355 nm and with repetition rate of 10 kHz. This is a highly promising approach for open channel microfluidics and micro array analysis due to its simplicity, chemical and environmental stability of coating and low coast.

We present recent work on a method for depositing silicone nanofilament coatings on surfaces under mild conditions in the gas or solvent phase. The coating shows exceptional properties in an application as a superhydrophobic coating. It can be applied to a variety of substrates, is optically transparent and intrinsically superhydrophobic with typical water contact angles of more than 160° and sliding angles below 20°. It shows exceptional long term stability towards solvents and aqueous solutions of varying pH as well as natural and artificial weathering. We review the coating techniques as well as the results of our studies on the structure and properties of a silicone nanofilament coating.