Advances in bioinspired hydrophobic materials: From surface engineering to multifunctional applications

Abstract

Hydrophobic materials hold significant promise for diverse applications owing to their unique interfacial properties. As technology advances, researchers increasingly draw inspiration from nature to address sustainability challenges. Biological models, such as the exceptional hydrophobicity of lotus leaves and the water-repellent mechanisms of water striders have become cornerstone paradigms for biomimetic material design, driving innovations in surface engineering. Hydrophobic materials achieve extreme repulsion of water by combining surface micro-nano structures, thus giving birth to superhydrophobic materials. This review systematically evaluates both established and emerging fabrication techniques for bioinspired hydrophobic materials, highlighting their cutting-edge applications in oil–water separation, textile engineering, anti-icing coating, flame retardant, microplastics separation, heavy metals removal, food packaging, biomedical-wound dressings, and flexible electronics/optical devices. Superhydrophobic materials, due to their extreme water repellency and multi-functionality, can solve the bottleneck problems of traditional materials in humid environments.