A detailed introduction to superhydrophobic surfaces with superior durability characteristics and comprehensive discussion about fabrication approaches to prolong surface lifetimes are presented in this review, which is expected to inspire a number of scholars to fabricate more durable superhydrophobic materials.
It is worth noting
that the multifunctional surfaces are highly
desirable for water collection applications on droplet nucleation
and removal. Although the superhydrophobic surfaces is beneficial
to water collection due to easily shed liquid drops and favorable
heat-transfer performance, the pinned condensed water droplets within
the rough structure and a high thermodynamic energy barrier for nucleation
severely limit the water collection efficiency. Recently, the liquid-infused
surfaces have been significant for condensation heat transfer and
droplet nucleation but have poor durability. In this work, under the
UV light, polydimethylsiloxane was grafted onto ZnO nanorods (through
Zn–O–Si bond), and the residual unbonded silicone oil
was used as the lubricant, so that it form a hierarchical lubricant-impregnated
surfaces. Because of high viscosity of silicone oil and strong intermolecular
force between silicone oil and PDMS brush, the lubricant can be firmly
fixed in micronanostructure to form a durable lubricant layer. For
example, the LISs have outstanding properties such as boiling water
repellency, omniphobicity of various liquid, and hot water resistance.
Under a self-made hot vapor collection device, the surface can maintain
good water collection capacity and there is no obvious change in the
lubrication layer. After exposing in sunlight for 7 days and subjecting
them to 25 times heating/cooling cycles (heating at 150 °C),
the LISs exhibit excellent water collection and repairability. After
measurement, the oil content in the water is 43 mg/L, which is harmless
to the human body. Through the high-water collection efficiency and
durable lubricant layer, the LISs can be applied on a large scale
in the water collection industry.
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