Superhydrophobic coatings on curved surfaces featuring remarkable supporting force

We present a facile route to prepare bionic superhydrophobic coatings with striking supporting forces by fabricating hierarchical micro-/nanostructures on curved surfaces. The hierarchical structure was synthesized by decorating silver nanoparticles on a monolayer array of polystyrene (PS) microspheres. The monolayer array formed on a flat surface was transferred on a curved surface using silver acetate solution, which can then be converted into silver nanoparticles through thermal decomposition. The fabricated superhydrophobic coating on a convex tube exhibited a strong water-repellent property and supplied a high supporting force when it was floated on water surface.