Patterned hydrophilic-oleophilic metal oxide coating and method of forming

A method of forming a metal oxide coating on a predefined substrate, comprising:

• providing a plurality of organic molecules, each having a polar end and a nonpolar end;
• mixing said organic molecules with water, and forming an aqueous solution in which the organic molecules arrange themselves according to their polar characteristic to form spherical micelles in which the polar end of each organic molecule is disposed at an outer surface of the spherical micelle and the nonpolar end of each organic molecule is disposed inwardly from said outer surface of spherical micelle thereby forming an electrostatic charge on the outer surface of the spherical micelle, said electrostatically charged micelles being uniformly arranged equidistantly from each other throughout said aqueous solution as a result of repulsion forces provided by the respective electrostatically charged surfaces of the micelles;
• applying said aqueous solution containing said uniformly arranged micelles to said substrate, thereby forming a template having a pattern defined by said equidistantly spaced micelles disposed on said substrate, said template having a defined thickness;
• applying a coating of a metal oxide to said templated substrate, said coating having a thickness substantially equal to the defined thickness of said template whereby said equidistantly spaced micelles disposed on said substrate extend through said metal oxide coating;
• removing said micelles from the substrate, whereby the metal oxide coating remaining on the substrate after removal of the micelles has a plurality of macromolecular-sized apertures formed therein.