Abstract Hybrid surfaces with spatial wettability control are key for wider applicability in microfluidics, water harvesting, and inkjet printing. The patterned wettable surface is limited in its use on a broad scale due to the technological challenges of applying it to curved surfaces. In this study, we explore and demonstrate a desilanization technique to pattern hydrophilic spots on a superhydrophobic background. A simple chemical etching technique followed by functionalization with a low-surface-energy polymer yielded superhydrophobicity with contact angle of 178° ± 1° and sliding angle < 3° on Al5052. Further, surface processing by fluorine-free desilanization for 5 min yielded hydrophilicity with contact angle of ~ 20° ± 1°. To ensure the suitability of this technique in microfluidics, a microchannel surface with 300 µm channel width has been fabricated. Furthermore, the present study demonstrates the efficiency of simple wettability patterning on curved surfaces like Al cups and hollow pipes. Thus, a simple, cost-effective and time efficient methodology to fabricate wetting patterns on curved surfaces is proposed here.Graphical Abstract
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