Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 9
Superhydrophobic Surfaces: Beyond Lotus
Effect
X.D. Zhao, G.Q. Xu, and X.Y. Liu
Abstract
The term of lotus effect represents the superhydrophobic property of
lotus leaves. The super water repellency endows self-cleaning function to lotus
leaves, on which dirt particles are easily removed by raindrops. This phenomenon
generates increasing interest for both fundamental research and practical applica-
tions. Integrated with up-to-date science and technology, superhydrophobic surfaces
have been widely applied in industrial innovation and microengineering. In this
review, after a brief overview on basic characterization of the superhydrophobic
surface, the principle of its fabrication method and varied preparing technologies
are introduced. Then, beyond the lotus effect, we will discuss the techniques applied
on the modification of wetting behavior on superhydrophobic surface as well as
multifunctional superhydrophobic surfaces derived from conventional ones.
9.1
Introduction
Wettability of solid is important for both fundamental researches and technical
applications, ranging from industrial coating to microfluidic engineering. Specif-
ically, non-wettable surfaces with high contact angles and small sliding angles,
called superhydrophobic or ultrahydrophobic, have received a large amount of
attention in recent years. Water drops that come into contact with superhydrophobic
surfaces remaining a nearly spherical shape, with contact angle close to 180
ı
,have
X.D. Zhao • G.Q. Xu • X.Y. Liu (
)
College of Materials, Xiamen University, 422 Si Ming Nan Road, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China
Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, National University
of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3 117542, Singapore
e-mail:
phyliuxy@nus.edu.sg
