The Design of Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Nature has given birth to innumerable wonders that have provided great inspiration to the scientific world. Particular interest has been given to natural hydrophobic surfaces, a number of which have been shown to display the ability to self-clean. Superhydrophobicity is a phenomenon that requires certain conditions of chemical composition and surface topography to combine to provide a surface with properties that enable any water droplets coming into contact to slide off the surface under low tilting angles. This unique surface property has inspired a large number of attempts to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces that exhibit water contact angles above 150° along with the ability for any water droplets coming into contact to readily roll off the surface when tilted. This chapter discusses research that has been performed in the design and fabrication of micro/nano-hierarchical structures that exhibit self-cleaning behavior, many of which have focused on mimicking the structure of natural surfaces possessing self-cleaning properties. In this chapter, the techniques, protocol designs, and the wide range of natural and fabricated surfaces used in the production of superhydrophobic surfaces are discussed.