Abstract
Inspired by the self-cleaning and water-repellent lotus leaf, we have developed an efficient process to create superhydrophobic metal surfaces using a femtosecond fiber laser and have investigated the mechanisms of the structured metal surfaces in relation to their hydrophobicity. The at will feature of femtosecond fiber lasers can write versatile patterns of hydrophobicity with nanoscale precision on any metal. The results show that the homogeneously distributed hierarchical structures exhibit multifunctional properties, including superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning, and light-trapping. By optimizing the fabrication conditions, we have achieved a contact angle as high as 171° and a rolling angle of less than 3°. The structure is also resistant to an extreme temperature range of −40 °C to 71 °C and temperature shocks from 20 °C to −40 °C. This research highlights the exciting potential applications of superhydrophobic metals in the aviation, biomedical, and solar energy industries and beyond.
Highlights
Nature has created many living species with diverse wetting surfaces so that they can adapt to their habitats
We report our study of developing a process to create superhydrophobic metal surfaces using a high energy fs fiber laser and investigating the structured metal surfaces in relation to hydrophobicity
All experiments were conducted in ambient air at 21 ◦ C with a constant air flow running across the metal surface during the experiment to flush out the plume of ablated and recondensed material into an exhaust hood
Summary
Nature has created many living species with diverse wetting surfaces so that they can adapt to their habitats. In 1997, Barthlott and Neinhuis revealed nature’s mystery for the first time and found that lotus leaves are comprised of randomly oriented papillose epidermal cells covered with hydrophobic epicuticular wax [5]. Their findings stirred great interest in hydrophobicity research [6], and since this area has attracted increasing attention due to its wide range of applications in the automobile, aerospace, nautical, plumbing, and biomedical industries for functions such as hydrophobic surface corrosion resistance, rust prevention, friction reduction, and the improvement of cell adhesion [7,8,9,10,11,12]. The processed surfaces can exhibit hydrophobic behavior, these techniques usually involve complicated fabrication processes and have many limitations, including the need for hazardous x-rays, chemicals, and multiple steps
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