Superhydrophobic surface with rice leaf structures fabricated by laser processing

In recent years, fabricating superhydrophobic surfaces on aluminum alloy substrates has emerged as a promising approach to enhance their corrosion resistance, which is vital for broadening their application scope. However, the challenge persists in enhancing the mechanical durability of these surfaces through the creation of microstructures. To address this issue, we used the combination of laser processing and low surface energy modification to fabricate the superhydrophobic surface with the composite microstructures, which was inspired by the rice leaf surfaces, on aluminum alloy substrate. The optimal laser processing parameters of this superhydrophobic surface with rice leaf structures were 0° filling angle, 0.05 mm line spacing, 50 kHz frequency, and 600 mm/s scanning speed. The optimal structural parameters were the concavity region width of 400 µm, protrusion region width of 150 µm, and scanning times of 7. Under the above laser processing parameters and structural parameters, we could obtain superhydrophobic surfaces with anisotropy. The protrusion regions of proposed superhydrophobic surface could protect the micro/nano-structures of the concavity region, this superhydrophobic surface with rice leaf structures showed mechanical durability. In addition, the superhydrophobic surface had self-cleaning property, chemical stability, corrosion resistance, water collection property, and anti-icing property, which would be helpful to expand the engineering application of aluminum alloy.