Water-only hydrothermal method: a generalized route for environmentally-benign and cost-effective construction of superhydrophilic surfaces with biomimetic micronanostructures on metals and alloys.

The present work demonstrates a generalized strategy using water-only hydrothermal oxidation to construct complex biomimetic micronanostructures on a series of metals and alloys, resulting in superhydrophilic surfaces. This general approach is environmentally-benign and cost-effective, which offers a unique clue for the rational fabrication of micronanoscale architectures and superhydrophilic surfaces.