Scalable-Manufactured Anticorrosion and Wear-Resistant Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Superhydrophobic surfaces have attracted considerable attention because of their unique characteristics for widespread applications such as self-cleaning, deicing, antifouling, and hydrodynamic drag reduction. However, previous research has failed to attain the required mechanical and chemical robustness of a superhydrophobic surface simultaneously, which has significantly limited its application in complex and practical scenarios. In this work, we designed and fabricated a mechanically and chemically robust superhydrophobic surface that is made of laser-ablated microstructured stainless steel frames filled with fluoropolymer nanoparticles. The stainless-steel frames serve as a protective cover that significantly enhances the mechanical durability of the surface, and the fluoropolymer coatings subsequently improve the resistance to chemical corrosion due to their intrinsic chemical inertness. This synergetic effect of mechanical protection and chemical inertness empowers the superhydrophobic surface of robust superhydrophobicity after 1000 cycles of sandpaper abrasion and immersion in extremely corrosive chemical solutions of 1.5 mol/L NaOH or 0.75 mol/L H2SO4 for 300 h. In addition, our superhydrophobic surface has retained anticorrosion and wear-resistant properties even after 30 days of continuous UV and thermal exposure, salt spray, and seawater immersion. Thus, we envision that such superhydrophobic surfaces with their superior mechanical robustness, chemical corrosion resistance, and scalable manufacturability are capable of expanding their operational lifespan in practical engineering applications.