A study about the influence of single-scale and dual-scale structures on surface wettability

Surface morphology is known as the key factor to obtain lyophobic surface. This paper illustrates two superhydrophobic surfaces with different surface morphologies including single-scale nanorod structure and dual-scale flower-like structure. We compared contact angles of many liquids and dynamic behavior of water droplet impinging on the nanorod structured surface to those of on the flower-like structured surface. It was found that both the single-scale nanorod structure and the dual-scale flower-like structure can achieve superhydrophobicity. However, the dual-scale flower-like structure is superior to the single-scale nanorod structure in terms of repelling the droplet with low surface tension. In addition, we investigated stability and corrosion resistance of these two superhydrophobic surfaces, showing that both the single-scale nanorod and the dual-scale flower-like structured superhydrophobic surfaces had excellent long-term stability and thermal stability. Nevertheless, the dual-scale flower-like structured superhydrophobic surface was more stable under outside vibration and had better corrosion resistance than the single-scale nanorod structured superhydrophobic surface.