(464c) Superhydrophobic and Superoleophobic Coatings

Superhydrophobic surfaces are often found on plant leaves and insect wings in nature.  Water on these surfaces forms small beads and drips off rapidly.  This interesting phenomenon has stimulated extensive research and commercialization effort to make artificial superhydrophobic coatings and to use them for self-cleaning, water-proof, anti-icing, anti-corrosion, and anti-fouling purposes.   A key challenge in making superhydrophobic coatings is to tailor the morphology of the coatings in nanometer scales, which typically involves synthesis and fabrication of materials at nanometer dimensions.  Recently, the concept of superhydrophobicity has been extended to make surfaces that repel oil in the same way as superhydrophobic surfaces repel water.  Such surfaces have been referred to as superoleophobic surfaces.  Apparently, due to the much lower surface tension of oil compared to that of water, making superoleophobic surfaces has been extremely challenging.   In this talk, I will discuss the fundamental mechanisms underlining the superhydrophobic and superoleophobic surface phenomena as well as the commercialization progress for making such coatings for industrial applications, such as “anti-icing superhydrophobic coatings” and “superoleophobic and superhydrophilic coatings for chemical-free cleaning and for water-oil separation”.