Abstract
A superhydrophobic surface that has controllable adhesion and is characterized by the lotus and petal effects is a powerful tool for the manipulation of liquid droplets. Such a surface has considerable potential in many domains, such as biomedicine, enhanced Raman scattering, and smart surfaces. There have been many attempts to fabricate superhydrophobic films; however, most of the fabricated films had uniform adhesion over their area. A patterned superhydrophobic surface with spatially controllable adhesion allows for increased functions in the context of droplet manipulation. In this study, we proposed a method based on liquid-crystal/polymer phase separation and local photopolymerization to realize a superhydrophobic surface with spatially varying adhesion. Materials and topographic structures were analyzed to understand their adhesion mechanisms. Two patterned surfaces with varying adhesion were fabricated from a superhydrophobic material to function as droplet guides and droplet collectors. Due to their easy fabrication and high functionality, superhydrophobic surfaces have high potential for being used in the fabrication of smart liquid-droplet-controlling surfaces for practical applications.
Highlights
A superhydrophobic surface has potential for manipulating the flow of liquid droplets
As the weight ratio of hyptadecafluorodecyl methacrylate (HDFDMA) increased, the contact angle of the water droplet on the films increased and the polymer fibrils became more robust against damage from the fabrication process, as illustrated in the insets of Figure 2a
We successfully fabricated a superhydrophobic surface with spatially controllable adhesion and demonstrated the efficacy of functional superhydrophobic surfaces
Summary
A superhydrophobic surface has potential for manipulating the flow of liquid droplets. In contrast to the droplet-repelling characteristic of lotus-effect ones, petal-effect surfaces have a strong adhesion force that pins water droplets to their surface but at high water-contact angles [11,12,24]. We formulate a system featuring liquid-crystal/polymers phase separation in combination with spatial exposure and the washing out technique This system is used to fabricate a porous polymer structure to realize a superhydrophobic surface with spatially controllable adhesion. Two polymer materials with different chemical properties are employed to adjust the surface chemistry of the polymer films in the phase separation process In this proof-of-concept work, a superhydrophobic surface with controllable adhesion is accomplished by the proposed method, instead of a conventional fabrication process. Two patterned superhydrophobic surfaces are demonstrated to act as functional superhydrophobic surfaces
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