Sustainable approach for the development of durable superhydrophobic metallic surfaces

In the present work, we devised a facile, and environmental imprinting and hot-water treatments for developing a durable self-cleaning aluminum surface. The micro and nanostructured surfaces were composed of pillars and ellipsoidal flakes, respectively. The fluorination (vapor deposition) of surfaces imparted superhydrophobicity (theta(s) > 150 degrees), with high adhesion observed for micro-patterned surface, while nano and hierarchical surfaces exhibited low hysteresis and tilting angles (theta < 5 degrees). The nanostructured (Delta E = -0.3J/m) surface has shown the prevalence of stable Cassie state compared to hierarchical (Delta E = -0.07J/m) counterpart. The nanostructured surface has also exhibited higher durability under static and dynamic conditions than the hierarchical counterpart. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.