Summary: | Self-cleaning ability is one of the major benefits of superhydrophobic surfaces. It allows for
impurities or debris to be carried away by droplets of water. Lotus leaves are one of the most
popular superhydrophobic surfaces in nature. The objective of the experiment is to
manufacture very uniform and long nanowires on a plastic substrate, similar to protrusions
found on lotus leaves. By using multistage ultrasonic embossing, hierarchical structures were
able to be successfully manufactured. Moreover, preliminary tests suggest that with
hierarchical structures, the contact angle of water droplets on the surface is high and
simulated self-cleaning tests suggest that water droplets are efficient at lifting debris off the
surface.
|