Superhydrophobic surfaces and electrowetting have found applications in many fields. Two of the most desired features in these applications are a robust surface and low voltage actuation electrowetting. A thermally and chemically robust nano-scale superhydrophobic surface was prepared using facile techniques of sol-gel and hot water treatment to obtain rough pseudoboehmite alumina structures; and layer-by-layer coating, using Nafion (R), to achieve the hydrophobization. It exhibited a contact angle of 167.2 +/- 0.8 degrees; thermal stability of up to 300 degrees C; stability to acid, base, organic solvents and UV irradiation. Subsequently replacing Nafion (R) with 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecyltrimethoxysilane and a conductive Au under layer coating, an extremely low voltage, 3 V, electrowetting and reversible electrowetting were achieved in air and dodecane media, respectively. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.