Superhydrophobic surfaces and emerging applications: Non-adhesion, energy, green engineering

This paper provides a review of superhydrophobicity and related phenomena (superoleophobicity, omniphobicity, self-cleaning) induced by surface micro- and nanostructuring. The classical approaches to superhydrophobicity using the Young, Wenzel, and Cassie-Baxter models for the contact angle (CA) are presented. After that, the issues that are beyond the Wenzel and Cassie-Baxter theories are discussed, such as multiscale effects, 1D vs. 2D interactions, the effects of contact line, size of roughness details, curvature, and CA hysteresis dependence on roughness. New potential applications of superhydrophobicity are reviewed, such as new ways of energy transition, antifouling, and environment-friendly manufacturing. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.