Preparation and basic properties of superhydrophobic silicone rubber with micro-nano hierarchical structures formed by picosecond laser-ablated template

Hydrophobicity is the most important property of silicone rubber for outdoor isolation. Controlling wettability, along with interface and adhesion studies, has been widely investigated for technological applications, such as self-cleaning surfaces, by modifying the geometric structure and chemical composition of surfaces. Superhydrophobic surface with self-cleaning and anti-icing properties is ideal for outdoor insulation material. This paper reports on an effective strategy to modify the surface structure of silicone rubber. Microcraters with nanotexture can be fabricated on a mold steel using high-power picosecond laser incorporated with a high-speed scanning mirror. This template is used in direct replication process in which the surface morphology of silicone rubber can be changed during vulcanization. Two accessible methods are used to implement the modification process. Single-point pulse method is used to prepare regular papilla and abundant nanotexture on open architecture-type superhydrophobic surface, with contact angle reaching 151.5°±1.7°. Line scanning method is used to prepare connected papillae on enclosed-type surface, forming the secondary structure. In this case, nanotexture is richer and has a smaller scale (100 nm) compared with open architecture-type surface. Moreover, the contact angle of the enclosed-type superhydrophobic surface is 150.3°±0.9°. The contact model of water on superhydrophobic surfaces follows the Wenzel and Cassie coexisting model as shown by the air pockets, which are found experimentally and by calculation. Sliding angle of superhydrophobic surfaces reaches 5°, which indicates that this insulating surface possesses good self-cleaning properties. Repeated and large-area fabrication of superhydrophobic silicone rubber can be achieved by the proposed methods. These methods can be performed for large-scale application.