Enhancement of dynamic wetting properties by direct fabrication on robust micro–micro hierarchical polymer surfaces

Abstract

Understanding evaporation phenomena on hierarchical surfaces is of crucial importance for the design of robust superhydrophobic polymer structures for various applications. This fabrication method enables precise control of the dimensions to elucidate the dynamic wetting behavior affected by geometric parameters. That behavior exhibits three distinct evaporation modes: a constant contact line (CCL), a constant contact angle (CCA), and mixed mode during the droplet evaporation. The droplet evaporation results show that the sticky CCL mode and the Cassie–Wenzel transition can be prevented by engineering hierarchy integration. Moreover, the CCL–CCA transition point time scale exhibits remarkable dependence on surface dimensions such as the area fraction and solid–liquid contact line. Finally, the fabricated hierarchical structures indicate remarkable superhydrophobic properties, static contact angle above 160° and low sliding angle under 10°, with good durability in terms of aging effect and mechanical robustness for 2 months.