Research into extreme water-repellent surfaces began many decades ago, although it was only relatively recently that the term superhydrophobicity appeared in literature Here we review the work on the preparation of superhydrophobic surfaces, with focus on the different techniques used and how they have developed over the years, with particular focus on the last two years We discuss the origins of water-repellent surfaces, examining how size and shape of surface features are used to control surface characteristics, in particular how techniques have progressed to form multi-scaled roughness to mimic the lotus leaf effect There are notable differences in the terminology used to describe the varying properties of water-repellent surfaces, so we suggest some key definitions

Progess in superhydrophobic surface development.

Superhydrophobic surfaces: From natural to biomimetic to functional

The interaction of cells and bacteria with surfaces structured at the nanometre scale.

Advances in top-down and bottom-up surface nanofabrication: techniques, applications & future prospects.

The interest in superhydrophobic surfaces has grown exponentially over recent decades. Since the lotus leaf dual hierarchical structure was discovered, researchers have investigated the foundations of self-cleaning behavior. Generally, surface micro/nanostructuring combined with low surface energy of materials leads to extreme anti-wetting properties. The great number of papers on this subject attests the efforts of scientists in mimicking nature to generate superhydrophobicity. Besides the thirst for knowledge, scientists have been driven by the many possible industrial applications of superhydrophobic materials in several fields. Many methods and techniques have been developed to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces, and the aim of this paper is to review the recent progresses in preparing manmade superhydrophobic surfaces.

Recent advances in designing superhydrophobic surfaces.

Fouling and non-fouling surfaces produced by plasma polymerization of ethylene oxide monomer

An inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus (100) comprises a plasma chamber (12) with a dielectric window (400) forming a self-supporting wall element of the plasma chamber (12). The dielectric window (400) has an external and an internal side with respect to the chamber (12). An electromagnetic field source (140) is arranged in front of the external side of the dielectric window (400) for generating an electromagnetic field within the plasma chamber (12). The field source comprises at least one magnetic core (301, 302, 303). The at least one magnetic core (301, 302, 303) is attached to the external side of the dielectric window (400), such that the at least one magnetic core helps the dielectric window (400) to withstand collapsing forces caused by negative pressure inside said chamber during operation.

Inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus

In this paper a method for fabricating nanostructured polymeric surfaces with contrasted chemical functionality is presented. First, a polymer film of acrylic acid (PAA) is deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. It is covered by a monolayer of particles in the 500 nm range. Then oxygen plasma etching is performed, providing etching of both nanoparticles and acrylic acid film present between the masks. The etching process is stopped before the complete etching of the nanoparticles and the residual ones are removed by ultrasonic bath. Chemical contrast is thus created between nanodomes having plateau-like surface with as-deposited carboxylic functionality and substrate surface. Protein attachment experiments show that proteins are selectively bound to the functional plateau of the PAA domes.

Pascal Colpo

Papers

Fouling and non-fouling surfaces produced by plasma polymerization of ethylene oxide monomer

Inductively coupled plasma processing apparatus

Fabrication of Nanostructured Polymeric Surfaces for Biosensing Devices

Micro-stamped surfaces for the patterned growth of neural stem cells.

Label-Free Biosensor Detection of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds Using Engineered Estrogen Receptors