Sticky superhydrophobic surface

The authors present a simple and inexpensive method for fabricating a stable superhydrophobic engineering material surface using aluminum alloy and a suitable aqueous solution and time to control the surface roughness, which has a large water contact angle (>150 degrees) and a large water sliding angle (>90 degrees). The as-prepared surface can be large-scale produced and used in industry quickly, such as a barrier material, self-cleaning material, and lubricating material. This finding will enhance further understanding of the wettability of solid surfaces with special surface morphologies. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.