Hybrid Laser Ablation and Chemical Modification for Fast Fabrication of Bio-inspired Super-hydrophobic Surface with Excellent Self-cleaning, Stability and Corrosion Resistance

Although laser ablation is considered as a facile technique to fabricate bio-inspired super-hydrophobic surfaces, the issue is that the initial laser treated metallic surfaces show super-hydrophilic property. It will take a long period to reach super-hydrophobic state under ambient air. It is reported that these super-hydrophobic surfaces could be easily damaged by thermal heating effect or interaction with other liquids, causing uncontrolled loss of super-hydrophobicity. In this study, a stable super-hydrophobic aluminum surface was rapidly fabricated via the hybrid laser ablation and surface chemical modification of (heptadecafluoro-1, 1, 2, 2-tetradecyl) triethoxysilane (AC-FAS). Surface morphology and chemistry were systematically investigated to explore the generation mechanism of super-hydrophobicity. The water contact angle of the treated surfaces can reach up to 160.6° ± 1.5° with rolling angle of 3.0° ± 1.0°, exhibiting perfect self-cleaning capability, long-term stability, and excellent chemical stability in acidic as well as alkaline solutions. The potentiodynamic polarization tests implied that the super-hydrophobic surfaces showed better anti-corrosion performance. This hybrid laser ablation and surface chemical modification are very time-saving and low-cost, which offers a rapid way for quantity production of super-hydrophobic surface on aluminum material.