Low cost fabrication of a superhydrophobic V-grooved polymer surface

Engineering of polymer surfaces to control their wetting properties has shown a wide range of potential applications. In this paper we show low cost fabrication of a superhydrophobic polymer surface via a hierarchical combination of hot embossing, O2 reactive ion etching (RIE) and deposition of a hydrophobic silane. The hot embossing and O2 RIE were used to produce respective micro and nanoscale surface roughness which is a requirement for obtaining superhydrophobic surfaces, while the deposition of a hydrophobic silane modified surface chemistry. In order to increase the water/air interface in the Cassie-Baxter composite wetting model, a brass mold with microscale V-grooves was used for hot embossing. Images of droplets in both static water contact angles and dynamic impact tests with the surface clearly show that the wetting state follows the Cassie-Baxter wetting model. The results of this study indicate that our design of the dual level surface roughness and the fabrication process allow for low cost and easy production of a highly superhydrophobic surface.