Raspberry-like particle-assisted breath figures method to simultaneously fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces with different adhesions

Abstract

In this article we introduced a raspberry-like particle-assisted breath figures method to simultaneously fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces with different adhesions. Firstly, SiO2 particles were in situ generated on the surface of styrene copolymer microspheres to form raspberry-like composite particles, and then simply separated the products according to the distribution differences of particles with different structures in the reactor. Finally, the superhydrophobic surface was prepared by breath figures (BF) method. The hydrophobic surfaces prepared by the particles on the wall and bottom of the reactor showed distinct adhesion, the former showed a Cassie-Baxter state with a contact angle of 158° and a sliding angle of 3°, while the latter exhibited a Wenzel state with high adhesion to water droplets. By changing the amount of styrene copolymer microspheres added, the superhydrophobic surface adhesion could be transformed. Meanwhile, the solid-liquid contact mode and the height to width (H/W) of the pores have also been proved to be the key factors affecting the surface adhesion.