Bioinspired superhydrophobic surfaces, fabricated through simple and scalable roll-to-roll processing

A simple, scalable, non-lithographic, technique for fabricating durable superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces, based on the fingering instabilities associated with non-Newtonian flow and shear tearing, has been developed. The high viscosity of the nanotube/elastomer paste has been exploited for the fabrication. The fabricated SH surfaces had the appearance of bristled shark skin and were robust with respect to mechanical forces. While flow instability is regarded as adverse to roll-coating processes for fabricating uniform films, we especially use the effect to create the SH surface. Along with their durability and self-cleaning capabilities, we have demonstrated drag reduction effects of the fabricated films through dynamic flow measurements.