A facile processing way of silica needle arrays with tunable orientation by tube arrays fabrication and etching method

A simple method to fabricate silica micro/nano-needle arrays (SNAs) is presented based on tube-etching mechanism. Using silica fibers as templates, highly aligned and free-standing needle arrays are created over large area by simple processes of polymer infiltration, cutting, chemical etching and polymer removal. Their sizes and orientations can be arbitrarily and precisely tuned by simply selecting fiber sizes and the cutting directions, respectively. This technique enables the needle arrays with special morphology to be fabricated in a greatly facile way, thereby offers them the potentials in various applications, such as optic, energy harvesting, sensors, etc. As a demonstration, the super hydrophobic property of PDMS treated SNAs is examined.