Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Surface with Different Metal Films on Aluminum Alloy

A simple technique was developed for the fabrication of a superhydrophobic surface on the aluminum alloy sheets. Different hierarchical structures(Ag, Co, Ni and Zn) were formed on the aluminum surface by the galvanic replacement reactions. After the chemical modification of them with fluorination, the wettability of the surfaces was changed from superhydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry(EDS) and water contact angle measurement were performed to characterize the morphological characteristic, chemical composition and superhydrophobicity of the surfaces. The as-prepared superhydrophobic surfaces showed a water contact angle as high as ca.160° and sliding angle as low as ca.3°. We hope the method to produce superhydrophobic surface can be used in many fields.     

Facile preparation of superhydrophobic nanorod surfaces through ion-beam irradiation

Obtaining superhydrophobic surfaces for their application in electronics and flexible wearable devices remains a significant challenge. Most previously reported methods for obtaining superhydrophobic surfaces involve complex and expensive preparation techniques and thus cannot be used for practical applications. Ion-beam irradiation is a simple and promising method for fabricating superhydrophobic nanostructures on large areas at a low cost. Ion-beam irradiation using argon and oxygen gases was used to prepare silica nanorod structures on glass substrates. This study is not just a modification of the surface of nanoparticles, but a change in nanoparticle shape. The nanorods were subsequently treated with perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane to obtain superhydrophobicity. The surface of the silica nanorods exhibited a static water contact angle of 153°, indicating superhydrophobicity. The combination of rough structures of silica nanorods and low surface energy resulted in superhydrophobicity. The surface properties were evaluated in detail using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The proposed method is facile, inexpensive, and can be used for the large-scale production of nanorod structures for potential industrial applications.     

Superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic surfaces fabricated by spark‐coating

In this study, the authors researched the preparations of superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic surfaces on commercial cup stock polyethylene coated papers by using sparked aluminum nanoparticles deposited on substrates through a sparking process. In this stage, the surface was porous and showed superhydrophilic properties. The samples were then annealed in air at various temperatures and some transformed to superhydrophobicity. It is well known that a suitable roughness in combination with low surface energy has been required to obtain superhydrophobic surfaces. Therefore, it is believed that during annealing process, when polyethylene is diffused from the substrate through the nanoparticle films and the superhydrophobic characteristics were created. The scanning electron microscope images showed that the film surfaces had a fluffy structure for both the as‐deposited and the annealed samples. However, the atomic force microscopy phase images showed completely different surface properties. Moreover, the X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra showed different surface chemical compositions. The experimental results revealed that the working temperature to produce superhydrophobic surfaces depended on the sparked film thickness. Furthermore, in order to prove the assumption explained above, glass and poly (methyl methacrylate) were also used as substrates.     

CaCO_3颗粒模板法制备聚合物超亲水/超疏水表面

以碳酸钙(CaCO3)颗粒层为模板,运用简单的热压和酸蚀刻相结合的方法制备聚合物超亲水/超疏水表面.首先在玻璃基底上均匀铺撒一层CaCO3颗粒,以此作为模板,通过热压线性低密度聚乙烯(LLDPE)使CaCO3颗粒均匀镶嵌在聚合物表面,获得了超亲水性质;进一步经酸蚀得到了具有微米和亚微米多孔结构的表面,其水滴静态接触角(WCA)可达(152.7±0.8)°,滚动角小于3°,具备超疏水性质.表面浸润性能和耐水压冲击性能研究表明该超疏水表面具有良好的稳定性和持久性.用同样工艺微模塑/酸蚀刻其它疏水性聚合物,得到类似结果.     

Nanostructures increase water droplet adhesion on hierarchically rough superhydrophobic surfaces

Hierarchical roughness is known to effectively reduce the liquid-solid contact area and water droplet adhesion on superhydrophobic surfaces, which can be seen for example in the combination of submicrometer and micrometer scale structures on the lotus leaf. The submicrometer scale fine structures, which are often referred to as nanostructures in the literature, have an important role in the phenomenon of superhydrophobicity and low water droplet adhesion. Although the fine structures are generally termed as nanostructures, their actual dimensions are often at the submicrometer scale of hundreds of nanometers. Here we demonstrate that small nanometric structures can have very different effect on surface wetting compared to the large submicrometer scale structures. Hierarchically rough superhydrophobic TiO(2) nanoparticle surfaces generated by the liquid flame spray (LFS) on board and paper substrates revealed that the nanoscale surface structures have the opposite effect on the droplet adhesion compared to the larger submicrometer and micrometer scale structures. Variation in the hierarchical structure of the nanoparticle surfaces contributed to varying droplet adhesion between the high- and low-adhesive superhydrophobic states. Nanoscale structures did not contribute to superhydrophobicity, and there was no evidence of the formation of the liquid-solid-air composite interface around the nanostructures. Therefore, larger submicrometer and micrometer scale structures were needed to decrease the liquid-solid contact area and to cause the superhydrophobicity. Our study suggests that a drastic wetting transition occurs on superhydrophobic surfaces at the nanometre scale; i.e., the transition between the Cassie-Baxter and Wenzel wetting states will occur as the liquid-solid-air composite interface collapses around nanoscale structures. Consequently, water adheres tightly to the surface by penetrating into the nanostructure. The droplet adhesion mechanism presented in this paper gives valuable insight into a phenomenon of simultaneous superhydrophobicity and high water droplet adhesion and contributes to a more detailed comprehension of superhydrophobicity overall.     

Facile Electrochemical Method for the Fabrication of Stable Corrosion-Resistant Superhydrophobic Surfaces on Zr-Based Bulk Metallic Glasses

Both surface microstructure and low surface energy modification play a vital role in the preparation of superhydrophobic surfaces. In this study, a safe and simple electrochemical method was developed to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces of Zr-based metallic glasses with high corrosion resistance. First, micro–nano composite structures were generated on the surface of Zr-based metallic glasses by electrochemical etching in NaCl solution. Next, stearic acid was used to decrease surface energy. The effects of electrochemical etching time on surface morphology and wettability were also investigated through scanning electron microscopy and contact angle measurements. Furthermore, the influence of micro–nano composite structures and roughness on the wettability of Zr-based metallic glasses was analysed on the basis of the Cassie–Baxter model. The water contact angle of the surface was 154.3° ± 2.2°, and the sliding angle was <5°, indicating good superhydrophobicity. Moreover, the potentiodynamic polarisation test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy suggested excellent corrosion resistance performance, and the inhibition efficiency of the superhydrophobic surface reached 99.6%. Finally, the prepared superhydrophobic surface revealed excellent temperature-resistant and self-cleaning properties.     

Humidity responsive asymmetric free-standing multilayered film

A humido-responsive free-standing film has been created using layer-by-layer assembly technique. Polyethylenimine (PEI) at high pH was assembled with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) at low pH on a Teflon substrate to yield a micro-nanostructured surface that can be made superhydrophobic after being coated with a low surface energy compound. The resulting asymmetric free-standing film with one surface being superhydrophobic while the other is hydrophilic after detachment from the substrate can undergo reversible bending/unbending shape transitions when the environmental humidity is changed. The bending/unbending movement of the free-standing film can be ascribed to the different responses of these two surfaces to humidity.     

A facial approach to fabricate superhydrophobic aluminum surface

A facial chemical etching method was developed for fabricating superhydrophobic aluminum surfaces. The resultant surfaces were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, water contact angle (WCA) measurement, and optical methods. The surfaces of the modified aluminum substrates exhibit superhydrophobicity, with a WCA of 154.8° ± 1.6° and a water sliding angle of about 5°. The etched surfaces have binary structure consisting of the irregular microscale plateaus and caves in which there are the nanoscale block‐like convexes and hollows. The superhydrophobicity of aluminum substrates occurs only in some structures in which the plateaus and caves are appropriately ordered. The resulted surfaces have good self‐cleaning properties. The results demonstrate that it is possible to construct superhydrophobic surface on hydrophilic substrates by tailoring the surface structure to providing more spaces to trap air. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multifunctional polymethylsilsesquioxane (PMSQ) surfaces prepared by electrospinning at the sol-gel transition: superhydrophobicity, excellent solvent resistance, thermal stability and enhanced sound absorption property

Multifunctional superhydrophobic polymethylsilsesquioxane (PMSQ) surfaces with excellent solvent resistance, thermal stability and enhanced sound absorption property were manufactured by electrospinning. The surfaces with various hierarchical morphologies and hydrophobicity were obtained by electrospinning at the different stages of sol-gel transition of PMSQ prepolymer solution. At the stage with a proper viscosity the superhydrophobic PMSQ surface with a contact angle as high as 151° and a sliding angle as low as 8° was prepared. Due to the excellent thermal stability and solvent resistance properties of the cured PMSQ, the resultant surfaces remain superhydrophobicity after thermal treatment at 300 °C and immersion into many solvents. Additionally, an enhanced acoustical performance and ultra water repellency were obtained simultaneously when the traditional acoustical sponge was decorated with the electrospun PMSQ superhydrophobic surface. The robust superhydrophobic PMSQ surfaces may promise practical applications in many fields.     

Direct catalytic route to superhydrophobic polyethylene films

Polyethylene films grow on a flat silica surface modified by the bis(imino)pyridyl iron(II) catalyst during ethylene polymerization in toluene solvent. The resulting films show superhydrophobic properties. Advancing water contact angle as high as 169 degrees and sliding angles as low as 2 degrees are obtained on these films. SEM images reveal special surface structures of these films containing micrometer-sized islands, submicrometer particles on the islands, and stress nanofibers between the islands, which render superhydrophobicity to the polyethylene surfaces. After the submicrometer particles and stress nanofibers are removed by annealing, the superhydrophobic properties of the polymer films disappear.     

Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic polyethylene aerogel coated natural rubber latex foam for oil-water separation application

The oil-water separation has made an attention due to over-increased production of oily water from the industrial process and everyday routine of humans. The current work reports on preparation and characterization of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) aerogel coated Natural Rubber Latex foam (NRLF) with superhydrophobic and superoleophilic character, good sorption capacity for oil-water separation application and were investigated. The HDPE aerogel and the coated NRLF material was prepared by a cooling process from a solution of HDPE in xylene solvent (HDPE sole, which resulted into thermally induced phase separation of the Polyethylene molecular network). The HDPE aerogel coated NRLF displayed a porous surface morphology with particle-like structural features. The HDPE aerogel coated NRLF showed superhydrophobicity with static water contact angle >150°. The effect and recyclability of the HDPE aerogel coated NRLF for oil-water separation was investigated using different model oil solvents to explore their repeatable application in oil spill clean-up process. Modified NRLF shows an excellent mechanical property (compressibility). The average modulus and average stiffness of the modified NRLF increased with the increase of the concentration of HDPE sol. The modified superhydrophobic sponge has good durability under acid and base conditions.     

Applications of Plasma Technology in Development of Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Superhydrophobic surfaces, originally inspired by nature, have gained a lot of interest in the past few decades. Superhydrophobicity is a term attributed to the low adhesion of water droplets on a surface, leading to water contact angles higher than 150°. Due to their vast variety of possible applications, ranging from biotechnology and textile industry to power network management and anti-fouling surfaces, many methods have been utilized to develop superhydrophobic surfaces. Among these methods, plasma technology has proved to be a very promising approach. Plasma technology takes advantage of highly reactive plasma species to modify the functionality of various substrates. It is one of the most common surface treatment technologies which is widely being used for surface activation, cleaning, adhesion improvement, anti-corrosion coatings and biomedical coatings. In this paper, recent advances in the applications of plasma technology in the development of superhydrophobic surfaces are discussed. At first, a brief introduction to the concept of superhydrophobicity and plasma is presented, then plasma-based techniques are divided into three main categories and studied as to their applications in development of superhydrophobic surfaces.     

Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Surfaces of Cellulose Sheets by Creating Biomimic Structures

The biodegradable superhydrophobic cellulose sheets were fabricated by simple dissolution, controllable crystallization, coagulation, and Teflon dip-coat. The surface morphology of the superhydrophobic regenerated cel- lulose sheets is similar to that of the natural lotus leaves consisting of hierarchical micro/nano structures. The pre- pared cellulose sheets exhibit a remarkable suoerhvdroohobicity and satisfactory long-term chemical stabilitv.     

Synthesis and characterization of PMMA-based superhydrophobic surfaces

Recently, superhydrophobic surfaces are gaining much interest because they may be employed in a series of applications, spanning from the realization of self-cleaning surfaces to microfluidics to special water-impermeable tissues allowing perspiration. It is well-known that superhydrophobicity strictly depends on the combination of superficial micro- and nano-structures. Then, key factors in the process of surface synthesis are the parameters which will define the surface conformation. In this work, we deal with the fabrication of polymer-based superhydrophobic surfaces. We developed a new method to have a good control of the structure of the synthesised surface. A high stability of the superhydrophobic character during time was obtained. Moreover, the synthesis process is green and easily transferable to industry for large production.     

Contact angle hysteresis: surface morphology effects

Irradiation of metallic surfaces using ultra-short pulse laser results in a dual-scale structure. While metallic surfaces are superhydrophilic immediately after laser irradiation, prolonged exposure to air renders surfaces superhydrophobic due to surface reactions and deposition of carbonaceous materials onto the surface. In this work, we have fabricated a paraboloid microstructure, which is analyzed thermodynamically through the use of the Gibbs free energy to obtain the equilibrium contact angle and contact angle hysteresis. The effects of the geometrical details on maximizing the superhydrophobicity of the nanopatterned surface are also discussed in an attempt to design surfaces with desired and/or optimum wetting characteristics.     

Facile preparation of superhydrophobic coatings by sol-gel processes

Different organic/inorganic compositions and deposition methods were used to prepare superhydrophobic surfaces using metal alkoxides and the sol-gel process. Both surface roughness and composition had to be adjusted in order to obtain very high contact angles and low contact angle hysteresis as a necessary requirement for superhydrophobicity. Multilayer samples with a fluorinated organic-inorganic top layer showed water contact angles of about 157 degrees with low hysteresis (2 degrees ). Water drops rolled easily off their surface at a tilt angle as low as 4 degrees .     

Superhydrophobicity of biological and technical surfaces under moisture condensation: stability in relation to surface structure

The stability of superhydrophobic properties of eight plants and four technical surfaces in respect to water condensation has been compared. Contact and sliding angles were measured after application of water drops of ambient temperature (20 degrees C) onto cooled surfaces. Water evaporating from the drops condensed, due to the temperature difference between the drops and the surface, on the cooled samples, forming "satellite droplets" in the vicinity of the drops. Surface cooling to 15, 10, and 5 degrees C showed a gradual decrease of superhydrophobicity. The decrease was dependent on the specific surface architecture of the sample. The least decrease was found on hierarchically structured surfaces with a combination of a coarse microstructure and submicrometer-sized structures, similar to that of the Lotus leaf. Control experiments with glycerol droplets, which show no evaporation, and thus no condensation, were carried out to verify that the effects with water were caused by condensation from the drop (secondary condensation). Furthermore, the superhydrophobic properties after condensation on cooled surfaces from a humid environment for 10 min were examined. After this period, the surfaces were covered with spherical water droplets, but most samples retained their superhydrophobicity. Again, the best stability of the water-repellent properties was found on hierarchically structured surfaces similar to that of the Lotus leaf.     

Stable superhydrophobic surface via carbon nanotubes coated with a ZnO thin film

We report the formation of a stable superhydrophobic surface via aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with a zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film. The CNT template was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition on an Fe-N catalyst layer. The ZnO film, with a low surface energy, was deposited on the CNT template by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique. Contact angle measurement reveals that the surface of the ZnO-coated CNTs is superhydrophobic with water contact angle of 159 degrees . Unlike the uncoated CNTs surface, the ZnO-coated CNTs surface shows no sign of water seepage even after a prolonged period of time. The wettability of the surface can be reversibly changed from superhydrophobicity to hydrophilicity by alternation of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and dark storage.     

The Lotus effect: superhydrophobicity and metastability

To learn how to mimic the Lotus effect, superhydrophobicity of a model system that resembles the Lotus leaf is theoretically discussed. Superhydrophobicity is defined by two criteria: a very high water contact angle and a very low roll-off angle. Since it is very difficult to calculate the latter for rough surfaces, it is proposed here to use the criterion of a very low wet (solid-liquid) contact area as a simple, approximate substitute for the roll-off angle criterion. It is concluded that nature employs metastable states in the heterogeneous wetting regime as the key to superhydrophobicity on Lotus leaves. This strategy results in two advantages: (a) it avoids the need for high steepness protrusions that may be sensitive to breakage and (b) it lowers the sensitivity of the superhydrophobic states to the protrusion distance.