Design Parameters for Superhydrophobicity and Superoleophobicity

Abstract

Recent experiments have revealed that the wax on the lotus leaf surface, by itself, is weakly hydrophilic, even though the lotus leaf is known to be superhydrophobic. Conventional understanding suggests that a surface of such waxy composition should not be able to support superhydrophobicity and high contact angles between a liquid and the surface. Here, we show that the unexpected superhydrophobicity is related to the presence of “reentrant texture” (that is, a multivalued surface topography) on the surface of the lotus leaf. We exploit this understanding to enable the development of superoleophobic surfaces (i.e., surfaces that repel extremely low-surface-tension liquids, such as various alkanes), where essentially no naturally oleophobic materials exist. We also develop general design parameters that enable the evaluation of the robustness of the composite interface on a particular surface. Based on these design parameters, we also rank various superhydrophobic and superoleophobic substrates discussed in the literature, with particular emphasis on surfaces developed from inherently hydrophilic or oleophilic materials.