Anti-icing Performance of Superhydrophobic Surfaces with Periodic Micro-nano Structures Directly Induced by Femtosecond Laser

Herein, this paper presents a simple and unique method for the fabrication of superhydrophobic and anti-icing stainless steel surfaces by using femtosecond laser. Femtosecond laser is used to etch the stainless steel surface with the single-line array, inducing the generation of periodic micro-nano structures on the laser scanning path. Then the surface energy of the specimen is lowered with fluoroalkyl silane solution to ultimately obtain the superhydrophobic sample surface with excellent anti-icing properties. The contact angle of the modified sample surface reaches up to 154°, and the rolling angle is only 4°, showing excellent superhydrophobicity. Moreover, the surface can effectively delay the freezing time of water droplets. The freezing time of the water droplet is extended by 122% compared with the original surface which is only polished, and the ice adhesion strength of the water droplet after complete freezing is only 19.4 kPa. This study provides a simple method for preparing superhydrophobic and anti-icing surfaces by single-line array femtosecond laser etching, which eliminates the complicated steps of hydrophobic pattern designing and multiple processing processes. It also provides a new idea for the preparation of superhydrophobic and anti-icing surfaces in the field of femtosecond laser etching.