Process for altering the wetting properties of a substrate surface

A process for altering the wetting property of the surface of a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing an array of nanostructures on the substrate, each nanostructure having a proximal end adjacent to the substrate and a distal end opposite to said proximal end;
• and
• (b) moving the distal ends of at least one subset of said array of nanostructures towards each other to thereby form at least one nanostructure cluster, wherein the nanostructures of each cluster have distal ends that are spaced closer to each other relative to the respective proximal ends of said adjacent nanostructures, said nanostructure cluster altering the wetting property of the substrate.

A substrate comprising at least one nanostructure cluster thereon, said nanostructure cluster comprising plural nanostructures, each nanostructure having a proximal end adjacent to said substrate and a distal end opposite to said proximal end, wherein the nanostructures of each cluster have distal ends that are spaced closer to each other relative to their respective proximal ends of said adjacent nanostructures.

A substrate having an array of nanostructures thereon, each nanostructure having a proximal end adjacent to said substrate and a distal end opposite to said proximal end, wherein the substrate has a cluster part comprising at least one cluster of nanostructures having distal ends that are spaced closer to each other relative to the respective proximal ends of said adjacent nanostructures, and a non-cluster part comprising nanostructures having distal ends that are spaced about the same relative to the respective proximal ends of said adjacent nanostructures.