Large-area fabrication and applications of patterned surface with anisotropic superhydrophobicity

Abstract

Recently, anisotropic superhydrophobic surfaces have aroused much attention due to their promising applications. However, large-area fabrication of low-cost superhydrophobic surfaces with obvious anisotropicity is still a huge challenge. In this work, a home-made melt hot-pressing method was proposed to facilely fabricate aligned micro-patterns on high-density polyethylene surface. Such surface displays anisotropic superhydrophobic characteristic with a static water contact angle of 152°and 145° respectively in parallel and perpendicular direction. Moreover, it has low surface adhesion and decent mechanical stability, showing promising applications for hydraulic triboelectric generator with self-cleaning ability, milk residue reduction and drag reduction. Considering the facile fabrication process and inexpensive thermoplastic polymer used, this study not only provides the possibility of large-area and low-cost preparation of orderly patterned surfaces with anisotropic superhydrophobicity, but also opens a new pathway toward wide application of anisotropic superhydrophobic surface.