Micro and Nano Engineering最新文献

{"title":"Quantifying pore spatial uniformity: Application on membranes before and after plasma etching","authors":"E.-M. Papia ,&nbsp;V. Constantoudis ,&nbsp;D. Ioannou ,&nbsp;A. Zeniou ,&nbsp;Y. Hou ,&nbsp;P. Shah ,&nbsp;M. Kappl ,&nbsp;E. Gogolides","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100278","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100278","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Membranes play a critical role in diverse applications, including filtration and tissue engineering. The importance of membrane performance optimization highlights the necessity of accurately characterizing the pore structure. Traditional Pore Size Distribution methodologies are widely used to quantify size uniformity. Uniformity though, integrates both size and spatial pore structure aspects, thus necessitating the synergy of complementary techniques to analyze pore structure. This work empowers classic pore metrology with stochastic geometry, specifically the Nearest Neighbour Index (NNI) to assess the spatial uniformity of pores in membrane Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images. Through a comprehensive analysis of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) before and after plasma etching, along with nanofilament coated Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes, this analysis enhances our understanding of membrane morphology through pore structure and pore spatial arrangement. The findings indicate that increasing magnification leads to a decrease in apparent spatial uniformity, indicative of effects regarding the inclusion in analysis of families of finer pores. In almost all cases, NNI values show higher uniformity compared to a fully random scenario. Additionally, it is found that plasma etching does not have significant effects on spatial uniformity introducing only a slight uniformity in pore centroid arrangement, reflected in a small NNI increase. Furthermore, a pore area shuffling technique reveals the effects of pore density and size on spatial uniformity, highlighting patterns inherent to the materials under study.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100278"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000418/pdfft?md5=88a2d1b5f4316afeeaf425b5362a4e4c&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000418-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141962533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Michael Hatzakis, semiconductor industry pioneer","authors":"J. Paraszczak ,&nbsp;J.M. Shaw ,&nbsp;D.P. Kern ,&nbsp;P. Argitis ,&nbsp;D. Davazoglou ,&nbsp;I. Raptis ,&nbsp;D. Tsoukalas ,&nbsp;E. Gogolides","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100276","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100276","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Although this opinion paper tracks the career of Mike Hatzakis (as he liked to be called), and explains the impact he made on the IT industry, it is not intended to be comprehensive insofar as the work that was underway during his career is concerned. Thus, the intent is not to cite all relevant work in the field of Semiconductor lithography, where Mike made such an impact, but to provide a historic and human perspective of this remarkable man from the land of the Minotaur (Crete) and his career, the work he championed in his labs in the US and later Greece and his very human approach to science, technology, and to people.<span><figure><span><img><ol><li><span><span>Download: <span>Download high-res image (200KB)</span></span></span></li><li><span><span>Download: <span>Download full-size image</span></span></span></li></ol></span></figure></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100276"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259000722400039X/pdfft?md5=0dd817c39162f110bd05b18c50bfab77&pid=1-s2.0-S259000722400039X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141841836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fabrication Techniques for a Tuneable Room Temperature Hybrid Single-electron Transistor and Field-effect Transistor","authors":"Kai-Lin Chu,&nbsp;Wenkun He,&nbsp;Faris Abualnaja ,&nbsp;Mervyn Jones,&nbsp;Zahid Durrani","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100275","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100275","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Hybrid room-temperature (RT) silicon single-electron – field effect transistors (SET-FETs) provide a means to switch between ‘classical’, high current FET, and low-power SET operation, using a gate voltage. While operating as a SET, charge on a silicon quantum dot (QD) within the current channel, can be controlled at the one-electron level using the Coulomb blockade effect. This paper investigates nanofabrication methods for sub-10 nm ‘fin’ channel hybrid RT SET-FETs, and their influence on the energy band diagram, and formation of tunnel barriers and QDs, along the channel. Devices are fabricated in heavily <em>n</em>-doped SOI material using electron beam lithography, with thermal oxidation to reduce the as-defined fin width. Effective channel dimensions, following oxidation and excluding Si/SiO₂ interface dopant deactivation, are ∼2.4 nm <span><math><mo>×</mo></math></span> 32 nm <span><math><mo>×</mo></math></span> 20 nm. Dopant disorder, fin width variation at the nanometre scale, and quantum confinement effects are considered as mechanisms for the formation of tunnel barriers and QDs, with dopant disorder the most likely reason. Arrhenius plots of <em>I</em>_<em>ds</em> vs. 1/<em>T</em> allow extraction of a potential barrier energy ∼0.2 eV along the fin channel. For 180devices fabricated on four chips, 37% show RT SET-FET operation, ∼3 times higher than the corresponding yield observed in previous work on point-contact silicon SETs.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100275"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000388/pdfft?md5=f6127414bf77e2409195f5406588ec29&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000388-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141852580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of industrial and consumer 3-D resin printer fabrication of microdevices for quality management of genetic resources in aquatic species","authors":"Seyedmajid Hosseini ,&nbsp;Jack C. Koch ,&nbsp;Yue Liu ,&nbsp;Ignatius Semmes ,&nbsp;Isabelina Nahmens ,&nbsp;W. Todd Monroe ,&nbsp;Jian Xu ,&nbsp;Terrence R. Tiersch","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100277","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100277","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Aquatic germplasm repositories can play a pivotal role in securing the genetic diversity of natural populations and agriculturally important aquatic species. However, existing technologies for repository development and operation face challenges in terms of accuracy, precision, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, especially for microdevices used in gamete quality evaluation. Quality management is critical throughout genetic resource protection processes from sample collection to final usage. In this study, we examined the potential of using three-dimensional (3-D) stereolithography resin printing to address these challenges and evaluated the overall capabilities and limitations of a representative industrial 3-D resin printer with a price of US$18,000, a consumer-level printer with a price &lt;US$700, and soft lithography, a conventional microfabrication method. A standardized test object, the Integrated Geometry Sampler (IGS), and a device with application in repository quality management, the Single-piece Sperm Counting Chamber (SSCC), were printed to determine capabilities and evaluate differences in targeted versus printed depths and heights. The IGS design had an array of negative and positive features with dimensions ranging from 1 mm to 0.02 mm in width and depth. The SSCC consisted of grid and wall features to facilitate cell counting. The SSCC was evaluated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) devices cast from a typical photoresist and silicon mold. Fabrication quality was evaluated by optical profilometry for parameters such as dimensional accuracy, precision, and visual morphology. Fabrication time and cost were also evaluated. The precision, reliability, and surface quality of industrial-grade 3-D resin printing were satisfactory for operations requiring depths or heights larger than 0.1 mm due to a low discrepancy between targeted and measured dimensions across a range of 1 mm to 0.1 mm. Meanwhile, consumer-grade printers were suitable for microdevices with depths or heights larger than 0.2 mm. While the performance of either of these printers could be further optimized, their current capabilities, broad availability, low cost of operation, high throughput, and simplicity offer great promise for rapid development and widespread use of standardized microdevices for numerous applications, including gamete quality evaluation and “laboratory-on-a-chip” applications in support of aquatic germplasm repositories.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100277"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000406/pdfft?md5=37334bdc422b34d72765c80fe269e820&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000406-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141848763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Morphological and chemical evolution of monocrystalline porous germanium over time in various storage environments","authors":"Valentin Daniel ,&nbsp;Jérémie Chretien ,&nbsp;Sonia Blais ,&nbsp;Jinyoun Cho ,&nbsp;Kristof Dessein ,&nbsp;Gwenaelle Hamon ,&nbsp;Abderraouf Boucherif ,&nbsp;Maxime Darnon","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100274","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100274","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Mesoporous germanium (MP-Ge) emerges as a very appealing material for many applications such as anode material for Lithium-Ion batteries due to it high specific area and large void spaces or, in optoelectronics as sacrificial layer for III-V materials growth and detachment, allowing notably several uses of a single Ge substrate<u><em>.</em></u> These porous nanostructures are distinguished by a large specific surface area and are prone to degradation with time due to exposure to the environment. To understand and be able to reduce this effect, we studied the chemical and morphological evolution of porous germanium layers under various ambient storage conditions for 3 months to identify the main parameters responsible for material degradation. This study demonstrates that the ambient air environment leads to the growth of native oxide, leading to major morphology changes. Scanning electrons microscope (SEM) showed the formation of clusters and the enlargement of the pores after 90 days. These structural modifications are caused by the oxidation of Ge, and more specifically by the creation of GeO₂ matrices due to the synergy of dioxygen (O₂) and humidity (H₂O_(g)). The energy brought by light can exacerbate these phenomena and thus accelerate the degradation rate of the pore morphology. Based on these experimental results, we propose efficient solutions to limit the GeO₂ proportions and the clusters' appearance, by storing them under a dry neutral atmosphere (Ar) or by adding a hydrogen halide pre-treatment (10s 1% HBr solution).</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100274"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000376/pdfft?md5=af41d282b5736f24ee5d09a09560c11a&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000376-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141731768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rapid and versatile, micro-patterning and functionalization of complex structures on ultra-thin and flexible polymeric substrates","authors":"E. Cunaj ,&nbsp;E. Gogolides ,&nbsp;A. Tserepi ,&nbsp;K. Ellinas","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100273","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100273","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Microscale patterning on flexible substrates is important in many applications such as in wearable sensors and microfluidics-based diagnostics, therefore low-cost fabrication methods which are scalable and amenable to mass production have attracted the interest of many companies and research groups. Dry film resists (DFRs) are commercially available materials with properties compatible with their implementation on flexible substrates to cover a wide range of applications, which also offer environmental and sustainability benefits due to the low waste generation compared to the liquid resists. However, there are limited detailed reports in the literature regarding the use of DFRs for the fabrication of microfluidic channels or other micropatterns (i.e., posts) on thin and flexible substrates. Herein we present in detail the fabrication of: a) microfluidic channels of width ranging from 50 μm up to 800 μm, and depth ranging from 30 μm up to 270 μm and b) square posts 80 μm × 80 μm in size and 30 μm in height. Particularly, our method enables the fabrication of ultra-deep microchannels (depth &gt; 250 μm), highly ordered post arrays over large area (appr. 60 cm²), as well as complex designs with hierarchical scale features (80 μm posts inside 800 μm microchannels or micro-nanotexturing inside microchannels) on ultra-thin flexible substrates. To demonstrate the versatility of the method, three different DFRs were used on ultra-thin (30 μm), flexible, single-sided copper-clad polyimide substrates. It is also demonstrated that DFRs can be effectively modified using plasma etching to tune the surface wetting properties towards applications such as pumpless capillary action, where such functionality is required.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100273"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000364/pdfft?md5=96fabc6dff7f40a7fd97050bc3095693&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000364-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141636618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PEDOT:PSS deposition in OECTs: Inkjet printing, aerosol jet printing and spin coating","authors":"Giorgia Rinaldi ,&nbsp;Davide Vurro ,&nbsp;Martina Cicolini ,&nbsp;Jovana Babic ,&nbsp;Aris Liboà ,&nbsp;Giuseppe Tarabella ,&nbsp;Pasquale D'Angelo ,&nbsp;Simone L. Marasso ,&nbsp;Matteo Cocuzza ,&nbsp;Lorenzo Vigna ,&nbsp;Fabrizio C. Pirri ,&nbsp;Matteo Parmeggiani","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mne.2024.100272","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>As the world moves towards integrating new functionalities into everyday objects, the demand for diverse substrates grows, making additive manufacturing an invaluable tool. Organic electronic materials have played a major role in this transition thanks to their excellent electronic and mechanical properties, adaptability and solution processability.</p><p>The aim of this study is to compare spin coating, inkjet printing (IJP), and aerosol jet printing (AJP) for applying poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as the channel material in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). This work investigates the often-overlooked impact of deposition techniques on the electrical performance of OECTs. Spin coating has been analysed as a reference technique, while AJP and IJP are addressed as promising pathways towards fully printed OECTs.</p><p>The normalized transconductance and I_on/I_off ratio have been analysed as figures of merit for this study. AJP devices have shown the best performance, displaying a normalized transconductance of 885 S∙nm and an I_on/I_off ratio around 10³. The spin coated OECTs showed a slightly lower normalized transconductance (740 S∙nm) and much lower I_on/I_off ratio in the order of 10¹. Last, IJP exhibited a transconductance of 433 S∙nm and a I_on/I_off ratio in the order of 10².</p><p>This work could be beneficial for a wide range of applications, adding an additional degree of freedom to the tunability of the OECT channel properties. It also opens the discussion for more comprehensive studies on the films from a materials perspective.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100272"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000352/pdfft?md5=728bcc64af1c5273c9475d39496a35c1&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000352-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141606050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"3D printed diffractive optical elements for rapid prototyping","authors":"Daniel Fan ,&nbsp;Carlas S. Smith ,&nbsp;Ranjith R. Unnithan ,&nbsp;Sejeong Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mne.2024.100270","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A rapid and robust method to fabricate transmission diffractive optical elements in the visible wavelengths is presented. By additive manufacturing of a polymeric photo-resin using 2-photon lithography followed by encasing of the structure in another resin with similar refractive index, the height of the structure can be made much larger, thus trading-off fabrication height for refractive index difference of the two materials. After adjusting for resin shrinkage, different diffractive optical element designs including an m = 1 vortex plate, and Laguerre-Gaussian beams with azimuthal and radial indices of (1,1), (1,2), and (2,1) were demonstrated. Experimental results show intensity patterns matching that of simulations, including size and features, although some aberration was observed, possibly due to fabrication tolerance errors or beam misalignment. This technique adds to the toolkit of micro-optics fabrication methods using additive manufacturing and 3D printing, and it would be beneficial for rapid prototyping and integration with miniaturised systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100270"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000339/pdfft?md5=634c39b0d7fb887009b196d90e86e226&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000339-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141583269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Metallization of polyetherimide with 3D structures by supercritical carbon dioxide-assisted electroless NiP plating","authors":"Ami Iwasaki ,&nbsp;Tomoyuki Kurioka ,&nbsp;Po-Wei Cheng ,&nbsp;Chun-Yi Chen ,&nbsp;Tso-Fu Mark Chang ,&nbsp;Kei Takase ,&nbsp;Hiroshi Ishihata ,&nbsp;Masato Sone","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mne.2024.100271","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Polyetherimide (PEI) with 3-dimensional (3D) structures is a promising material for applications in electronic devices because of its numerous attractive properties. In the applications of PEI, the low electrical conductivity is often a shortcoming. The electrical conductivity can be improved by a metallization process. Electroless plating is a common metallization process for polymeric materials; however, conventional electroless plating process scarcely provides the metallized PEI. In this work, we overcome this limitation by a supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂)-assisted electroless Ni<img>P plating process. This scCO₂-assisted electroless Ni<img>P plating allows metallization of PEI with 3D structures and realizes a low electrical resistance suitable for practical use in the electronic devices.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100271"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000340/pdfft?md5=41872f2bcd2b04fdea495c5e3c930e06&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000340-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141583268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Superhydrophobic and oleophobic Nylon, PES and PVDF membranes using plasma nanotexturing: Empowering membrane distillation and contributing to PFAS free hydrophobic membranes","authors":"Eleftherios Manouras ,&nbsp;Dimosthenis Ioannou ,&nbsp;Angelos Zeniou ,&nbsp;Andreas Sapalidis ,&nbsp;Evangelos Gogolides","doi":"10.1016/j.mne.2024.100269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mne.2024.100269","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>As freshwater demand is constantly increasing, water purification via membrane distillation (MD) emerges as a promising water production technology, especially when combined with the use of superhydrophobic membranes. Here, following our previous work [1] we extend our universal, environmentally friendly, plasma nanotexturing and hydrophobization technology for rendering practically any type of membrane superhydrophobic and oleophobic. Thus, we render three commercial porous membranes superhydrophobic, namely, polyvinylidene (PVDF 0.45 μm) (initially hydrophobic), polyethersulfone (PES 1.20 μm) and nylon (NY 1.20 μm) (both initially hydrophilic). We demonstrate superhydrophobic, superoleophobic (down to 40mn/m surface tension) and oleophobic properties (down to 30mN/m surface tension) for PVDF, PES and Nylon membranes thus paving the way for their use with low surface tension waste streams. Moreover, the technology presented herein not only improves existing hydrophobic membranes but may lead to elimination of the use of Teflon-like fluorinated hydrophobic membranes altogether in the future, thereby contributing to the PFAS (Per and Poly Fluoro Alkyl Substances) and Teflon-like membrane use reduction. We subsequently evaluated the performance of the treated membranes in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) for desalination of sea-like water (35 g/L NaCl). All membranes showed enhanced water flux with an increase of &gt;13% compared to the pristine hydrophobic PVDF membranes for at least 2 h of continuous operation, with salt rejection exciding 99.99%.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37111,"journal":{"name":"Micro and Nano Engineering","volume":"24 ","pages":"Article 100269"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590007224000327/pdfft?md5=6ce0a6f4fcb6a6ea7e031a7cd08bd887&pid=1-s2.0-S2590007224000327-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141592695","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}