Fabrication and application of TiO2-based superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic patterns on titanium substrates for offset printing.

A fabrication process for superhydrophilic-superhydrophilic patterns on titanium substrates prepared through a combination of an ink-jet technique and site-selective decomposition of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) by a TiO(2) photocatalyst under UV irradiation is described. We demonstrate that the prepared titanium substrate is applicable as an offset printing plate with high resolution (133 and 150 lines per inch). Furthermore, the superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic patterns on the substrate can be deposited repeatedly after elimination of the patterns by photocatalytic decomposition of TiO(2) under UV irradiation. A second printed image with the renewed substrate showed no significant difference in image quality compared with the initial image.