• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2018

Hydrophobic and Superhydrophobic surfaces are promising technology for the surface finishing of metallic materials due to its water-repellency. Realization of highly water-repellent surface on aluminum and its alloys provides various functionalities for real application fields. In order to realize the hydrophobic/superhydrophobic surfaces on aluminum and its alloys, various technologies have been demonstrated. Especially, traditional anodic oxidation for aluminum has been widely employed for the morphological texturing of surfaces, which is essential to enhance the hydrophobic efficiency. De-wetting superhydrophobic surface on aluminum provides various exceptional properties, such as anti-corrosion, anti-/de-icing, anti-biofouling, drag reduction, self-cleaning and liquid separation. Nevertheless, the durability and stability of superhydrophobic surfaces still remain challenges for their actual applications in engineering systems and industry. In this review, the theoretical/experimental studies and current technical limitations on the hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surface using anodic oxidation of aluminum have been summarized.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.157.2-157.2
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• 2016

Water repellent surfaces may enhance the condensation by efficiently removing the condensed droplets. However, such surfaces may lose their original performance as they are exposed to external mechanical stresses. In this work, we fabricated spray-coated mechanically robust superhydrophobic surfaces using treated titanium dioxide (Type 1) or silica particles (Type 2). Then we compared the mechanical robustness of such surfaces with the silane-coated superhydrophobic surface and PEEK coated surface using a controlled-sand blasting method. The results show that the spray-coated samples can maintain the same level of the contact angle hysteresis than silane-coated superhydorphobic surface after sand blasting at 2 bar. The spray-coating method was applied to the tube type condenser and the condensation behaviors were observed within the environmental chamber with controlled pressure, humidity and non-condensable gas. Previously-reported droplet jumping was observed in the early stage of the condensation event, but soon the droplet jumping stopped and only dropwise condensation was observed since the condensed droplets were pinned on the cracks at spray-coated surfaces. The static contact angle decreases from $158.0^{\circ}$ to $133.2^{\circ}$, and hysteresis increases from $3.0^{\circ}$ to $23.5^{\circ}$ when active condensation occurs on such surfaces. This work suggests the benefits and limitation of spray-coated superhydrophobic condensers and help develop advanced condensers for practical use.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.509-509
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• 2011

Superhydrophobic surfaces on alloyed steels were fabricated with a non-conventional method of plasma etching and subsequent water immersion procedure. High aspect ratio nanopatterns of nanoflake or nano-needle were created on the steels with various Cr content in its composition. With CF4 plasma treatment in radio-frequence chemical vapor deposition (r.-f. CVD) method, steel surfaces were etched and fluorinated by CF4 plasma, which induced the nanopattern evolution through the water immersion process. It was found that fluorine ion played a role as a catalyst to form nanopatterns in water elucidated with XPS and TEM analysis. The hierarchical patterns in micro- and nano scale leads to superhydrophobic properties on the surfaces by deposition of a hydrophobic coating with a-C:H:Si:O film deposited with a gas precursor of hexamethlydisiloxane (HMDSO) with its lower surface energy of 24.2 mN/m, similar to that of curticular wax covering lotus surfaces. Since this method is based on plasma dry etching & coating, precise patterning of surface texturing would be potential on steel or metal surfaces. Patterned hydrophobic steel surfaces were demonstrated by mimicking the Robinia pseudoacacia or acacia leaf, on which water was collected from the humid air using a patterned hydrophobicity on the steels. It is expected that this facile, non-toxic and fast technique would accelerate the large-scale production of superhydrophobic engineering materials with industrial applications.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.256-261
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• 2023

This study is conducted to evaluate the durability of superhydrophobic surfaces, with a focus on two aspects: contact angle measurement and self-cleaning-performance analysis. Superhydrophobic copper and aluminum surfaces are fabricated using the immersion method and subjected to a rolling wear test, in which a 2 kg weight is placed on a rolling tester, under loaded conditions. To evaluate their durability, the contact angles of the specimens are measured for each cycle. In addition, the surface deformation of the specimens before and after the test is analyzed through SEM imaging and EDS mapping. The degradation of the self-cleaning performance is evaluated before and after the wear test. The results show that superhydrophobic aluminum is approximately 4.5 times more durable than superhydrophobic copper; the copper and aluminum specimens could endure 21,000 and 4,300 cycles of wear, respectively. The results of the self-cleaning test demonstrate that superhydrophobic aluminum is superior to superhydrophobic copper. After the wear test, the self-cleaning rates of the copper and aluminum specimens decrease to 72.7% and 83.4%, respectively. The relatively minor decrease in the self-cleaning rate of the aluminum specimen, despite the large number of wear cycles, confirms that the superhydrophobic aluminum specimen is more durable than its copper counterpart. This study is expected to aid in evaluating the durability of superhydrophobic surfaces in the future owing to the advantage of performing wear tests on superhydrophobic surfaces without damaging the surface coating.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2024

Superhydrophobic surfaces have been expected to be able to provide considerable performance improvements and introduce innovative functions across diverse industries. However, representative methods for fabricating superhydrophobic surfaces include etching the substrate or attaching nanosized particles, but they have been limited by problems such as applicability to only a few materials or low adhesion between particles and substrates, resulting in a short lifetime of superhydrophobic properties. In this work, we report a novel coating technique that can achieve superhydrophobicity by electrophoretic deposition of aluminum nitride (AlN) nanopowders and their self-bonding to form a surface structure without the use of binder resins through a hydrolysis reaction. Furthermore, by using a water-soluble adhesive as a temporary shield for the electrophoretic deposited AlN powders, hierarchical aluminum hydroxide structures can be strongly adhered to a variety of electrically conductive substrates. This binder-free technique for creating hierarchical structures that exhibit strong adhesion to a variety of substrates significantly expands the practical applicability of superhydrophobic surfaces.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.244-248
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• 2022

Recently, several studies on the development of superhydrophobic surfaces using various nano-sized carbon-based materials have been conducted. The superhydrophobic surfaces developed using carbon soot have advantages such as low processing cost and remarkable physical and chemical properties. However, their durability is low. To address this problem, in this study, a superhydrophobic surface with high durability and a multilayer structure was fabricated using ethanol vapor treatment. Candle soot was deposited on an aluminum substrate coated with paraffin wax, and a micro-nano multilayer structure with a size of several micrometers was fabricated via ethanol vapor treatment. The fabricated superhydrophobic surface was confirmed to have a contact angle of at least 156° and high durability. Finally, it was confirmed that ethanol vapor not only changed the nanostructure of carbon but also affected the durability of the structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.102-133
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• 2015

Nature, such as plants, insects, and marine animals, uses micro/nano-textured surfaces in their components (e.g., leaves, wings, eyes, legs, and skins) for multiple purposes, such as water-repellency, anti-adhesiveness, and self-cleanness. Such multifunctional surface properties are attributed to three-dimensional surface structures with modulated surface wettability. Especially, hydrophobic surface structures create a composite interface with liquid by retaining air between the structures, minimizing the contact area with liquid. Such non-wetting surface property, so-called superhydrophobicity, can offer numerous application potentials, such as hydrodynamic drag reduction, anti-biofouling, anti-corrosion, anti-fogging, anti-frosting, and anti-icing. Over the last couple of decades, we have witnessed a significant advancement in the understanding of surface superhydrophobicity as well as the design, fabrication, and applications of superhydrophobic coatings/surfaces/materials. In this talk, the designs, fabrications, and applications of superhydrophobic surfaces for multifunctionalities will be presented, including hydrodynamic friction reduction, anti-biofouling, anti-corrosion, and anti-icing.

• Carbon letters
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.89-104
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• 2014

Materials with appropriate surface roughness and low surface energy can form superhydrophobic surfaces, displaying water contact angles greater than $150^{\circ}$. Superhydrophobic carbon-based materials are particularly interesting due to their exceptional physicochemical properties. This review discusses the various techniques used to produce superhydrophobic carbon-based materials such as carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, graphene, amorphous carbons, etc. Recent advances in emerging fields such as energy, environmental remediation, and thermal management in relation to these materials are also discussed.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.591-597
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• 2012

This paper presents regularly micro-textured glass surfaces ensuring the superhydrophobic properties in the Cassie-Baxter regime. The proposed surfaces were fabricated simply and efficiently by filling the glass material into a silicon micro-mold with periodic micro-cavities based on a thermal-reflow process, resulting in a successful demonstration of the textured glass surface with periodically-arrayed micro-pillar structures. The static and dynamic wetting properties of the micro-textured glass surfaces were characterized by measuring the static contact angle (SCA) and contact angle hysteresis (CAH), respectively. In addition, the surface wettability was estimated theoretically based on Wenzel and Cassie-Baxter wetting theories, and compared with the experimental ones. Through the experimental and theoretical observations, it was clearly confirmed that the proposed micro-textured glass surfaces showed the slippery superhydrophobic behaviors in the Cassie-Baxter wetting mode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2013

The exterior structures of natural organisms have continuously evolved by controlling wettability, such as the Namib Desert beetle, whose back has hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast for water harvesting by mist condensation in dry desert environments, and some plant leaves that have hierarchical micro/nanostructures to collect or repel liquid water. In this work, we have provided a method for wettability contrast on metals by both nano-flake or needle patterns and tuning of the surface energy. Metals including steel alloys and aluminum were provided with hierarchical micro/nanostructures of metaloxides induced by fluorination and a subsequent catalytic reaction of fluorine ions on metal surfaces in water with various ranges from room to boiling temperature of water. Then, a hydrophobic material was deposited on the structured surfaces, rendering superhydrophobicity. Plasma oxidization induces the formation of superhydrophilic surfaces on selective regions surrounded by superhydrophobic surfaces. We show that wettability contrast surfaces align liquid water within patterned hydrophilic regions during the condensation process. Furthermore, this method could have a greater potential to align other liquids or living cells.