Superhydrophobic behaviors of polymeric surfaces with aligned nanofibers

In this article, nanostructured superhydrophobic polymeric surfaces were fabricated by a simple (one-step) reproductive method of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template extrusion. By tuning the diameter of the AAO template and the pressure to extrude, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) nanofiber surfaces with different nanometer roughness were prepared, and various sliding angles (SAs) of drops on these surfaces were measured. The results of the impact of drops on the nanostructured HDPE surfaces indicated that SAs were very important for the dynamic wettability of superhydrophobic surfaces. The one-step AAO template extrusion method has the advantage of tailoring the SA values on polymeric surfaces. Therefore, we believe it to be a promising industrial basis for manufacturing functional materials in the fields of agriculture, electronics, and optics.