Challenges and Opportunities of Superhydrophobic/Superamphiphobic Coatings in Real Applications

Contamination of surfaces with organic compounds and biological residues still represents a broad challenge, ranging from industry and medicine to our daily lives. Superhydrophobic coatings are exceptionally water repellent and have self-cleaning properties. Water drops roll off when tilting the surface by a few degrees. However, low surface tension liquids like oils and other organic contaminants easily adhere to superhydrophobic surfaces. Recently developed superamphiphobic coatings may prevent this problem. Superamphiphobic coatings could not only prevent wetting of surfaces by oil but also delay the deposition of biological material such as cells, proteins and bacteria. In this chapter we discuss the wetting behaviour of superhydrophobic and superamphiphobic surfaces. We address topics beyond the fabrication, characterization and optimization process of super-liquid repellent surfaces and present possible applications, ranging from industry to medicine. The durability and the long-term stability of superhydrophobicity/superamphiphobicity still present major challenges, limiting their industrial use.