Recent progress in stimulus-responsive superhydrophobic surfaces

With the widening of the application fields and the increasing complexity of the service environment of superhydrophobic materials, the conventional superhydrophobic surfaces with fixed wettability can no longer meet the requirements of practical application. Recently, stimulus-responsive superhydrophobic surfaces that can intelligently transform wettability through external stimuli have aroused widespread interest. A new review outlines the state-of-the-art research on stimulus-responsive superhydrophobic surfaces.

Background and significance

Firstly, the research background and significance of stimulus-responsive superhydrophobic surfaces are introduced. Subsequently, the concept, mechanism, applications, research progress, and existing issues of stimulus-responsive superhydrophobic surfaces including single magnetic, photo, electrical, temperature, pH, solvent, gas and other types of stimulus, as well as dual-stimulus and multi-stimulus responsive surfaces are reviewed and summarised with a cutting-edge perspective. Finally, the problems, challenges and future research directions of the stimulus-responsive superhydrophobic surfaces are concluded and prospected with a view to providing guidance for the impending applications in various traditional and emerging fields.

The review has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 168, July 2022.