Open AccessTuning Superhydrophobic Materials with Negative Surface Energy Domains
Author(s) -
Zhi-Xi Wu,
Liangliang Liu,
Shunning Li,
Shunping Ji,
Pinghu Chen,
Suihan Cui,
Zhengyong Ma,
Yuchang Weng,
Qian Huang,
Zihao Wu,
Hao Wu,
YuHsuan Lin,
Ricky K.Y. Fu,
Hai Lin,
Xiubo Tian,
Paul K. Chu,
Feng Pan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.8
H-Index - 16
ISSN - 2639-5274
DOI - 10.34133/2019/1391804
Subject(s) - materials science , nanotechnology , surface (topology) , surface energy , composite material , geometry , mathematics
Hydrophobic/superhydrophobic materials with intrinsic water repellence are highly desirable in engineering fields including anti-icing in aerocrafts, antidrag and anticorrosion in ships, and antifog and self-cleaning in optical lenses, screen, mirrors, and windows. However, superhydrophobic material should have small surface energy (SE) and a micro/nanosurface structure which can reduce solid-liquid contact significantly. The low SE is generally found in organic materials with inferior mechanical properties that is undesirable in engineering. Intriguingly, previous theoretical calculations have predicted a negative SE for θ -alumina ( θ -Al 2 O 3 ), which inspires us to use it as a superhydrophobic material. Here, we report the experimental evidence of the small/negative SE of θ -Al 2 O 3 and a θ -Al 2 O 3 -based superhydrophobic coating prepared by one-step scalable plasma arcing oxidation. The superhydrophobic coating has complete ceramic and desired micro/nanostructure and therefore exhibits excellent aging resistance, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, high-temperature tolerance, and burning resistance. Owing to the rarity of the small/negative SE in inorganic materials, the concept to reduce SE by θ -Al 2 O 3 may foster a blowout to develop robust superhydrophobicity by complete inorganic materials.