A Superhydrophobic Self‐Cleaning and Anti‐Icing Aluminum Sheet Fabricated by Alkaline Solution

Abstract

The aerospace industry has extremely strict requirements for metal materials, especially the stability of the material at a low temperature and in harsh environment. Herein, superhydrophobic anti‐icing aluminum sheets are fabricated with traditional hydrothermal reaction and modified by (heptadecafluoro‐1,1,2,2‐tetradecyl) triethoxysilane (AC‐FAS). Field‐Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to analyze the surface morphology and chemical compositions. The satisfactory properties of superhydrophobicity and anti‐icing result from its dense microcosmic array structure and its low surface energy. The prepared superhydrophobic aluminum surface can realize wettability alteration, in which the contact angle increases from 118° on the original aluminum sheets to 155° with a rolling angle of 10°. In addition, the prepared superhydrophobic surface has anti‐icing and self‐cleaning ability. According to the aforementioned results, it is believed that the superhydrophobic aluminum sheets can be an excellent candidate in the aerospace field.