Predicting plastron thermodynamic stability for underwater superhydrophobicity

Tesler A, Nurmi HA, Kolle S, Prado L, Karunakaran B, Mazare AV, Erceg I, de Brito Soares I, Sarau G, Christiansen S, Stafslien S, Alvarenga J, Aizenberg J, Fabry B, Ras RH, Goldmann W (2024)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2024

Journal

Book Volume: 5

Article Number: 112

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s43246-024-00555-8

Abstract

Non-wettable surfaces, especially those capable of passively trapping air in rough protrusions, can provide surface resilience to the detrimental effects of wetting-related phenomena. However, the development of such superhydrophobic surfaces with a long-lasting entrapped air layer, called plastron, is hampered by the lack of evaluation criteria and methods that can unambiguously distinguish between stable and metastable Cassie-Baxter wetting regimes. The information to evaluate the stability of the wetting regime is missing from the commonly used contact angle goniometry. Therefore, it is necessary to determine which surface features can be used as a signature to identify thermodynamically stable plastron. Here, we describe a methodology for evaluating the thermodynamic underwater stability of the Cassie-Baxter wetting regime of superhydrophobic surfaces by measuring the surface roughness, solid-liquid area fraction, and Young’s contact angle. The method allowed the prediction of passive plastron stability for over one year of continuous submersion, the impeding of mussel and barnacle adhesion, and inhibition of metal corrosion in seawater. Such submersion-stable superhydrophobicity, in which water is repelled by a stable passive air layer trapped between the solid substrate and the surrounding liquid for extended periods at ambient conditions, opens new avenues for science and technologies that require continuous contact of solids with aqueous media. (Figure presented.).

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Aalto University Espoo Finland (FI) Harvard University United States (USA) (US) Innovations-Institut für Nanotechnologie und korrelative Mikroskopie e.V. (INAM) / Institute for Nanotechnology and Correlative Microscopy Germany (DE) North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences (NDSU) United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Tesler, A., Nurmi, H.A., Kolle, S., Prado, L., Karunakaran, B., Mazare, A.V.,... Goldmann, W. (2024). Predicting plastron thermodynamic stability for underwater superhydrophobicity. Communications Materials, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-024-00555-8

MLA:

Tesler, Alexander, et al. "Predicting plastron thermodynamic stability for underwater superhydrophobicity." Communications Materials 5.1 (2024).

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