Materials with bioinspired superhydrophobic properties are highly desirable for many potential applications. Here, nine novel monomers derived from indole are synthesized to obtain these properties by electropolymerization. These monomers differ by the length (C4F9, C6F13 and C8F17) and the position (4-, 5- and 6-position of indole) of the perfluorinated substituent. Polymeric films were obtain...

We present in this Letter an experimental characterization of liquid flow slippage over superhydrophobic surfaces made of carbon nanotube forests, incorporated in microchannels. We make use of a particle image velocimetry technique to achieve the submicrometric resolution on the flow profile necessary for accurate measurement of the surface hydrodynamic properties. We demonstrate boundary slipp...

A superhydrophobic aluminum surface was fabricated through an enhanced low-cost approach and the effects of several relevant factors on static contact angle and sliding angle were investigated. First, the operating parameters including the etching time as well as the reaction time and temperature were varied. Next, the so-called chemical factors including three different fatty acids and five di...

Drag reduction has become a serious issue in recent years in terms of energy conservation and environmental protection. Among diverse approaches for drag reduction, superhydrophobic surfaces have been mainly researched due to their high drag reducing efficiency. However, due to limited lifetime of plastron (i.e., air pockets) on superhydrophobic surfaces in underwater, the instability of dewett...

The ability to prepare solid surfaces with well-controlled superhydrophobic and superoleophilic properties is of paramount importance to water-oil separation technology. Herein, we successfully prepared superhydrophobic-superoleophilic membranes by single-step deposition of polystyrene (PS) nanofibers onto a stainless steel mesh via electrospinning. The contact angles of diesel and water on the...

Digital microfluidics (DMF) is a popular alternative to traditional in-channel microfluidics, which allows precise control of individual droplets. Most commonly used droplet manipulation methods for DMF are electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) and magnetic actuation. Both methods require high surface hydrophobicity to facilitate droplet movement, and often superhydrophobic surfaces are used to f...

To meet stringent limit-of-detection specifications for low abundance target molecules, a relatively large volume of plasma is needed for many blood-based clinical diagnostics. Conventional centrifugation methods for plasma separation are not suitable for on-site testing or bedside diagnostics. Here, we report a simple, yet high-efficiency, clamshell-style, superhydrophobic plasma separator tha...

Fabricating robust superhydrophobic surfaces for commercial applications is challenging as the fine-scale surface features, necessary to achieve superhydrophobicity, are susceptible to mechanical damage. Herein, we report a simple and inexpensive lamination templating method to create superhydrophobic polymer surfaces with excellent abrasion resistance and water pressure stability. To fabricate...

anti-fogging, [ 6 ] anti-icing, [ 7 ] buoyancy [ 8 ] and drag reduction. [ 9 ] By defi nition, a surface is superhydrophobic if the contact angle between a water drop and the surface at the solid/liquid/air interface is larger than 150 ° , and the contact angle hysteresis is small, i.e., drops readily slide or roll off when the surface is tilted slightly. [ 10–12 ] Here we explore the feasibili...

Superhydrophobic surfaces, originally inspired by nature, have gained a lot of interest in the past few decades. Superhydrophobicity is a term attributed to the low adhesion of water droplets on a surface, leading to water contact angles higher than 150◦. Due to their vast variety of possible applications, ranging from biotechnology and textile industry to power network management and anti-foul...