Fabrication of Transparent and Microstructured Superhydrophobic Substrates Using Additive Manufacturing

We report facile one- and two-step processes for the fabrication of transparent ultrahydrophobic surfaces and three-dimensional (3D)-printed superhydrophobic (SH) microstructures, respectively. In the one-step method, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) solution is treated thermally at 350 degrees C for 4 h, while PDMS-soot is generated and deposited on a glass slide to obtain a transparent SH surface without further chemical modification. For the two-step approach, SH surfaces are obtained by incorporating a 3D printing technique with a convenient hydrophobic coating method. Herein, we first 3D-print microstructured substrates with particular surface parameters, which are designed to facilitate a stable gas-trapping Cassie-Baxter (CB) wetting state based on a thermodynamic calculation. We subsequently coat the 3D-printed microstructures with candle soot (CS) or octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) solution to make superhydrophobic surfaces with mechanical durability. These surfaces exhibit an ultrahigh static water contact angle (CA, theta similar or equal to 158 +/- 2 and 147 +/- 2 degrees for the CS and OTS coating, respectively) and a low roll-off angle for water droplets. Both static and dynamic (in terms of the advancing and receding) contact angles of a water droplet on the fabricated SH surfaces are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction of Cassie-Baxter contact angles. Furthermore, after a one-year-long shelf time, the SH substrates fabricated sustain good superhydrophobicity after ultrasonic water treatment and against several chemical droplets. All of these methods are simple, cost-effective, and highly efficient processes. The processes, design principle, and contact angle measurements presented here are useful for preparing transparent and superhydrophobic surfaces using additive manufacturing, which enables large-scale production and promisingly expands the application scope of utilizing self-cleaning superhydrophobic material.

Automated summary

This study presents simple one- and two-step processes for fabricating transparent ultrahydrophobic surfaces and 3D-printed superhydrophobic microstructures. The one-step method involves thermal treatment of PDMS solution to create a transparent superhydrophobic surface, while the two-step approach combines 3D printing with a hydrophobic coating method to obtain superhydrophobic surfaces.