Superhydrophobic Carbon

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Summary Infiltrating carbon nanotubes with carbon and coating them on a surface to create a robust and super-hydrophobic surface. The surface also attracts oil (oleophilic). It also shows the potential promise of being anti-microbial which would help solve many problems in the medical device industry, oil and water filtration systems and with plumbing systems. The advantages of carbon-infiltrated carbon nanotubes is that they display a significantly higher amount of strength and robustness in comparison to un-infiltrated carbon nanotubes. Carbon Infiltrated Carbon Nanotubes are made through chemical vapor deposition and a vacuum oven heat treatment processes. Tailoring of the chemical vapor deposition can result in the surface of the carbon infiltrated carbon nanotubes be as thick as millimeters and as thin as microns. The invention demonstrates principles from fluid mechanics; the surface is made of a rough, pure carbon nanotube forest that is fortified in strength by the infiltrated carbon filling gaps between and around each nanotube. Because the surface is made of geometrically rough, nearly pure carbon infiltrated carbon nanotubes, water is repelled strongly by the surface, and oil is attracted.