Review of Superoleophobic Surfaces: Evaluation, Fabrication Methods, and Industrial Applications

Abstract Nowadays, superoleophobic surfaces are considered as an innovative solution in many industries due to their various applications and numerous ways of fabrications, all of which have their own advantages. These surfaces are of great importance for a various range of applications including self-cleaning, stain-free clothing, oil/water separation, and drag reduction. Lately, major improvements have been made in order to understand the essential conditions for the creation of superoleophobic surfaces. The lack of a comprehensive review of superoleophobic surfaces has prompted us to gather a wide-ranging article covering most of the issues relating to the surfaces’ oleophobicity which can be used in educational and industrial fields. Although many advancements have been achieved in this section, but there are still numbers of fundamental issues in reaching the highest rate of superoleophobicity and also eco-friendly approaches. Therefore, in this review paper, existence of superoleophobicity in nature both on plants and animals, the fundamental requirements for the fabrication of superoleophobic surfaces, the basic and advance oleophobicity and superoleophobicity evaluation methods and also various approaches for superoleophobic surfaces fabrication such as sol-gel, etching, lithography, electrodeposition of conductive polymers, electrospinning, layer by layer assembly, solution-immersion, hydrothermal, anodizing, and spray coating were reviewed. Eventually, recent progress in the applications of superoleophobic surfaces and latest environmental issues were discussed.