Study on hierarchical structured PDMS for surface super-hydrophobicity using imprinting with ultrafast laser structured models

Abstract

We report a simple and inexpensive method for producing super-hydrophobic surfaces through direct replication of micro/nano-structures on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) from a replication master prepared by ultrafast-laser texturing process. Gratings were obtained on 304L stainless steel plate using picosecond laser ablation. It has been used as a master with grating areas of different structural features. PDMS negative replica was prepared from the masters, and PDMS positive replica was prepared from the negative replica thereafter. Wettability of samples of the steel master, negative and positive replicas was distinguished using the apparent contact angle (CA) of water drop. Relationships between the CAs on three kinds of samples and structural features were presented. Super-hydrophobic behavior with self-cleaning, exhibited by a water contact angle of 164.5° and sliding angle of 8.44°, was observed on the PDMS negative replica surface. The negative and positive replicas were sputtered on gold films, which were used to metalized PDMS and eliminate the submicron/nano-structures in hierarchical structures. Results prove that submicro/nano-structures of hierarchical structures enhance the hydrophobicity of material surface remarkably. This replication method can be applied for large scale production of micro/nano textured super-hydrophobic surfaces for commercial applications.