Low-cost,
high-quality, and large-area superhydrophobic surfaces
are in high demand. This study demonstrates laser-engineered polydimethylsiloxane
(PDMS) as a platform for versatile and highly efficient water manipulation.
The fabrication process consists of two steps: patterning PDMS with
arrayed microlenses and laser pulse scanning. The obtained PDMS is
superhydrophobic and exhibits excellent chemical resistance, UV stability,
pressure robustness, and substantial mechanical durability. Notably,
there is no significant change in the water contact angles after storage
in air for 14 months. Microstructural analysis revealed that the sample
contained stable nanostructured inorganics such as crystalline silicon,
silicon carbide, and sp3-like carbon. The superhydrophobic
surface was demonstrated to have versatile and wide applications in
oil/water separation and water collection.
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a promising approach to generating eco‐friendly hydrogen energy from water. Despite long‐lasting efforts, the existing methods still suffer limitations in the design of photoelectrodes with optimal structures for efficient operation. Herein, a novel porous gallium nitride (PGaN) photoanode decorated with plasmonic Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) is fabricated. After microstructural optimization, this composite photoanode improves the water‐splitting efficiency from 0.036% to 0.30% and exhibits a 2.7 times improvement of the photocurrent density in comparison with the planar GaN photoanode. The significant improvement of the water‐splitting efficiency is attributed to the synergistic combination of the porous structure with the plasmonic AuNPs that greatly benefits electron–hole pairs generation, separation, and charge‐carrier transport. The photoanode is robust and easy to fabricate, and this work provides an idea for future exploration of durable and efficient GaN‐based photoelectrodes.
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