Bionic superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces have promising applications in self-cleaning, corrosion prevention, anti-icing/de-icing, and fluid drag reduction due to their exceptional water repellent properties. A key feature of such surfaces is their micro nano hierarchical roughness, which entraps air to form a stable interfacial gas layer. This layer effectively converts solid‒liquid contact into a composite gas‒liquid/gas‒solid contact, leading to a notable reduction in fluid resistance. In recent years, several fabrication techniques have been developed for SH coatings, such as spraying, templating, sol‒gel processing, chemical vapor deposition, electrospinning, and laser etching. However, these methods often involve complex procedures, require costly equipment, and are difficult to apply to complex curved substrates, hindering their large-scale practical adoption.
Wang et al. recently proposed a rapid fabrication strategy based on the flame pyrolysis of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for the in situ construction of superhydrophobic/superaerophilic coatings on 3D spherical substrates, which was reported by Frontiers of Materials Science . The resulting coating exhibits a biomimetic micro nano composite structure analogous to that of lotus leaves, achieving a water contact angle exceeding 169.1° and a sliding angle below 1.0°. Under droplet impact (Weber number = 326.7, Reynolds number = 8400.0), the surface enables complete droplet bouncing within 15 ms, demonstrating excellent dynamic stability. Compared with pristine PDMS spheres, the SH spheres show a 40% increase in movement speed across the water surface, and the entire coating can be fabricated within only 3 s. This study presents a straightforward and efficient approach to SH coatings preparation. By integrating surface functionality with drag reduction applications, it provides both experimental evidence and theoretical insight for potential applications in marine vessels, cross-medium aircraft, and underwater devices.
Frontiers of Materials Science
Experimental study
Not applicable
Rapid fabrication of superhydrophobic/superaerophilic coatings via flame pyrolysis of PDMS for drag reduction
26-May-2026