Superhydrophobicity of Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Nature, such as plants, insects, and marine animals, use 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 multi-functional 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 anti-fogging, anti-frosting, anti-icing, anti-corrosion, anti-biofouling, and hydrodynamic drag reduction. Such a composite interface also allows us to explore novel interfacial phenomena including wetting, friction, adhesion, and fluid/thermal transport phenomena. 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. However, in order for such surface superhydrophobicity to benefit real applications with a broad impact, a practical challenge is how to maintain a de-wetted (Cassie-Baxter) state, as opposed to a wetted (Wenzel) state, under various physical/chemical/mechanical conditions. Other challenges include the durability/robustness of the surface structures/coatings, and the scalability/manufacturability of the structures/coatings/materials with good regularity of their patterns, sizes, and shapes at a relatively low cost. The main focus of the forthcoming ‘Superhydrophobicity of Materials’ Special Issue is to present a comprehensive overview of the new developments and to address how we can overcome such challenges in the broad spectrum of the science and technology related to the superhydrophobicity of materials.

It is my pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Chang-Hwan Choi
Guest Editor

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