Applications of Plasma Technology in Development of Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Abstract

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.