Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Metal Surfaces for Anti-Icing Applications
Published on: August 15, 2018
Bioinspired one-step construction of hierarchical superhydrophobic surfaces for oil/water separation
Ni Wang1, Yanbing Wang1, Bin Shang1
1Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, National Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Advanced Energy Devices, Shaanxi Engineering Lab for Advanced Energy Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, China.
Abstract:
It is imperative to develop efficient and environmentally friendly oil-spill cleanup materials to solve the problems raised by frequent oil spillages and industrial discharge of organic solvents. Here, we present a bioinspired one-step construction of hierarchical superhydrophobic surfaces on various commercial porous materials by immersing the materials into an alkaline aqueous mixture consisting of dopamine (DA) and dodecyltrimethoxysilane (DTMS). The self-polymerization of DA constructs the bumpy surfaces, while the DTMS coatings enhance the hydrophobicity of the surfaces. The combined use of both results in the hierarchical superhydrophobic surfaces. This surface modification of porous materials allows them as the potential candidates for collecting a wide variety of oils/organic solvents from water in a highly efficient, recyclable, and durable way. This approach proposes a general, yet green path for constructing superhydrophobic surfaces, which can be further adapted to prepare economic oil/organic solvents absorbents applied in the fields of oil/water separation, wastewater remediation, and organics recovery.
Related Concept Videos
States of Water
Water freezes when the intermolecular forces are greater than the kinetic energy. Unlike most other substances, water is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state. This is because each water molecule can form...
The Water Cycle
Water and Mineral Acquisition
Rate-Determining Steps
In a multistep reaction mechanism, one of the elementary steps progresses significantly slower than the others. This slowest step is called the rate-limiting step (or rate-determining step). A reaction cannot proceed faster than its slowest step, and hence, the rate-determining step limits the overall reaction rate.
The concept of rate-determining step can be understood from the analogy of a 4-lane freeway with a short-stretch of traffic-bottleneck caused due to...
Design Example: Flow of Oil Through Circular Pipes
Quality of Water

