Superhydrophobic Polymers

Abstract

Hydrophobicity and superhydrophobicity are well-known bioinspired properties of several plant surfaces. This kind of wetting control can lead to many applications, e.g. self-cleaning, enhanced heat-transfer properties, friction control, anti-biofouling surfaces, etc. Wetting control can permit a wide range of applications for polymers and therefore several polymer modification and synthesis methods have been proposed. This chapter is dedicated to the description of the most important fabrication methods to realize superhydrophobic polymers and wetting control of polymers in general, which are classified into two main categories: the top-down and the bottom-up approaches.