Stable superhydrophobic surface of hierarchical carbon nanotubes on Si micropillar arrays

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters 2013-10, Vol.8 (1), p.412-412, Article 412
• Main Authors: He, Shaoqing, Wei, Jinquan, Wang, Haifan, Sun, Deshun, Yao, Zhaohui, Fu, Chengsong, Xu, Ruiqiao, Jia, Yi, Zhu, Hongwei, Wang, Kunlin, Wu, Dehai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemistry and Materials Science; Materials Science; Molecular Medicine; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering
• ISSN: 1931-7573; 1556-276X; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1186/1556-276X-8-412

It is of great importance to construct a stable superhydrophobic surface with low sliding angle (SA) for various applications. We used hydrophobic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to construct the superhydrophobic hierarchical architecture of CNTs on silicon micropillar array (CNTs/Si-μp), which have a large contact angle of 153° to 155° and an ultralow SA of 3° to 5°. Small water droplets with a volume larger than 0.3 μL can slide on the CNTs/Si-μp with a tilted angle of approximately 5°. The CNTs growing on planar Si wafer lose their superhydrophobic properties after exposing to tiny water droplets. However, the CNTs/Si-μp still show superhydrophobic properties even after wetting using tiny water droplets. The CNTs/Si-μp still have a hierarchical structure after wetting, resulting in a stable superhydrophobic surface.