A simple method to create superhydrophobic aluminium surfaces

Superhydrophobic surfaces were prepared using a very simple and low-cost method by spray coating. A high static water contact angle of about 154° was obtained by deposition of stearic acid on an aluminium alloy. However, this coating demonstrated a high contact angle hysteresis (~ 30º). On the other hand, superhydrophobic surfaces with a static contact angle of about 162º and 158º, and a low contact angle hysteresis of about 3º and 5º were respectively obtained by incorporating nanoparticles of SiO2 and CaCO3 in stearic acid. The excellent resulting hydrophobicity is attributed to the synergistic effects of micro/nanoroughness and low surface energy. A study of the wettability of these surfaces at temperatures ranging from 20 to-10 ºC showed that the superhydrophobic surface becomes rather hydrophobic at supercooled temperatures