Maximizing the giant liquid slip on superhydrophobic microstructures by nanostructuring their sidewalls

In an effort to maximize the liquid slip on superhydrophobic surfaces, we investigate the role of the nanoscale roughness on microscale structures by developing well-defined micro-nano hierarchical structures. The nonwetting stability and slip length on the dual-scale micro-nano structures are measured and compared with those on single-scale micro-smooth structures. A force balance between a liquid pressure and a surface tension indicates that hydrophobic nanostructures on the sidewall of microposts or microgrates would expand the range of the nonwetted state. When a higher gas fraction or a larger pitch can be tested without wetting, a larger slip length is expected on the microstructures. An ideal dual-scale structure is described that isolates the role of the nanostructures, and a fabrication technique is developed to achieve such a microstructure-smooth tops and nanostructured sidewalls. The tests confirm such micro-nano structures allow a nonwetted state at a higher gas fraction or a larger pitch than the previous micro-smooth structures. As a result, we achieve the maximum slip length of approximately 400 microm on the dual-scale structures, an increase of approximately 100% over the previous maximum reported on the single-scale (i.e., micro-smooth) structures. The study ameliorates our understanding of the role of each scale on hierarchical structures for a wetting transition and a liquid slip. The resulting giant slip is large enough to influence many fluidic applications, even in macroscale.