Integration Of Superhydrophobicity And High Durability In Super-Rough Hard Thin Films

The development of drag reduction and self-cleaning technologies urgently needs the superhydrophobic films with high durability. However, due to hardness limitation, traditional polymer-based superhydrophobic films cannot achieve high durability. Here, a new strategy of "surface super-roughening of hard inorganic films" was proposed to achieve the integration of durability and hydrophobicity. By inducing the vertical growth of surface mounds, super-rough Ag-doped hafnium nitride films were prepared. This film had superhydrophobicity, high hardness, high wear resistance and high corrosion resistance. In addition, through the combination of experiments and simulations, we explained the microscopic mechanism of the vertical growth of surface mounds.