Anti‐icing Performance of Superhydrophobic Surfaces with Periodic Micro‐nano Structures Directly Induced by Femtosecond Laser

Abstract Herein, this paper presents a simple and unique method for the fabrication of superhydrophobic and anti‐icing stainless steel surfaces by using femtosecond laser. Femtosecond laser is used to etch the stainless steel surface with the single‐line array, inducing the generation of periodic micro‐nano structures on the laser scanning path. Then the surface energy of the specimen is lowered with fluoroalkyl silane solution to ultimately obtain the superhydrophobic sample surface with excellent anti‐icing properties. The contact angle of the modified sample surface reaches up to 154°, and the rolling angle is only 4°, showing excellent superhydrophobicity. Moreover, the surface can effectively delay the freezing time of water droplets. The freezing time of the water droplet is extended by 122% compared with the original surface which is only polished, and the ice adhesion strength of the water droplet after complete freezing is only 19.4 kPa. This study provides a simple method for preparing superhydrophobic and anti‐icing surfaces by single‐line array femtosecond laser etching, which eliminates the complicated steps of hydrophobic pattern designing and multiple processing processes. It also provides a new idea for the preparation of superhydrophobic and anti‐icing surfaces in the field of femtosecond laser etching.