Simple and cost-effective fabrication of highly flexible, transparent superhydrophobic films with hierarchical surface design.

Optical transparency and mechanical flexibility are both of great importance for significantly expanding the applicability of superhydrophobic surfaces. Such features make it possible for functional surfaces to be applied to various glass-based products with different curvatures. In this work, we report on the simple and potentially cost-effective fabrication of highly flexible and transparent superhydrophobic films based on hierarchical surface design.

A simple route to morphology-controlled polydimethylsiloxane films based on particle-embedded elastomeric masters for enhanced superhydrophobicity.

We present a simple route for controlling the surface morphology of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) films based on a standard replica molding technique incorporating a microparticle-embedded elastomeric master for enhancing surface wetting properties. The elastomeric masters are simply prepared by embedding microparticles (MPs) firmly into a surface of PDMS substrates using an abrasive air-jetting (AAJ) that can be potentially scaled up to large-area fabrication. The surface geometries of the PDMS masters can be easily controlled by using MPs with different shape and size in the AAJ process, resulting in easy control of the surface morphologies and resultant wetting and optical properties of the PDMS films after replicating.

Highly flexible, transparent and self-cleanable superhydrophobic films prepared by a facile and scalable nanopyramid formation technique.

A facile and scalable technique to fabricate optically transparent, mechanically flexible and self-cleanable superhydrophobic films for practical solar cell applications is proposed. The superhydrophobic films were fabricated simply by transferring a transparent porous alumina layer, which was prepared using an anodic aluminium oxidation (AAO) technique, onto a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film with a UV-curable polymer adhesive layer, followed by the subsequent formation of alumina nano pyramids (NPs) through the time-controlled chemical etching of the transferred porous alumina membrane (PAM). It was found experimentally that the proposed functional films can ensure the superhydrophobicity in the Cassie-Baxter wetting mode with superior water-repellent properties through a series of experimental observations including static contact angle (SCA), contact angle hysteresis (CAH), sliding behaviour on the tilted film, and dynamic behaviour of the liquid droplet impacting on the film.

Effect of oxidizer nanostructures on propulsion forces generated by thermal ignition of nano-aluminum-based propellants.

We demonstrated that the size and morphology of an oxidizer have strong effects on the propulsion forces of nano-Al-based propellants. Enhanced propulsion forces could be obtained through the creation and addition of various oxidizer nanoparticles and nanowires in nano-Al-based propellants.