Superhydrophobic bionic surfaces with hierarchical micro/nano structures were synthesized by decorating single-walled or multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on monolayer polystyrene colloidal crystals using a wet chemical self-assembly technique and subsequent surface treatment with a low surface-energy material of fluoroalkylsilane. The bionic surfaces are based on the regularly ordered colloidal crystals, and thus the surfaces have a uniform superhydrophobic property on the whole surface. Moreover, the wettability of the bionic surface can be well controlled by changing the distribution density of CNTs or the size of polystyrene microspheres. The morphologies of the synthesized bionic surfaces bear much resemblance to natural lotus leaves, and the wettability exhibited remarkable superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of about 165 degrees and a sliding angle of 5 degrees.

A simple seed-layer assisted electrochemical deposition (ECD) route has been successfully developed for preparation of different ZnO nanostructures, and their optical and field emission properties are also studied. ZnO films, nanowires, and nanosheets could be prepared in a rational way by just controlling the ECD current density. The corresponding growth mechanisms are also discussed on the basis of the characteristics of the ZnO crystal structure and the influences of the seed-layer and ECD current density. Except for ZnO nanosheets, both the room-temperature and low-temperature photoluminescence measurements of the ZnO films and nanowire arrays show strong ultraviolet excitonic emission, which proves their good crystal quality. Detailed analysis of the field emission (FE) properties indicates that the hierarchical ZnO nanowire array shows good FE property due to their high aspect ratio, small radius curvature, and proper density.