Large-area helical carbon microcoils with superhydropho-bicity over a wide range of pH values

Large-area helical carbon microcoils were prepared over metal surfaces by the copper-catalyzed pyrolysis of acetylene. The copper catalyst was formed on the metal surfaces by the electrochemical oxidation of a catalytic precursor (copper tartrate). The coils were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, XPS, and contact angle measurements. It was found that the coils had intrinsic chemical stability and were superhydrophobic over a wide range of pH values from 1 to 14. It is considered that such materials can be used as special interfa-cial functional materials.