Fabricating Polyethylene Superhydrophobic Surfaces by Thermal Replica-Molding Using Etched Stainless Steel Surfaces as Templates

Stainless steel smooth surface was first roughed by etching in FeCl3 containing solution towards working as thermal replicamolding template. Then the polyethylene was thermally pressed onto such etched surfaces. After being cooled to room temperature and stripped off from the templates, the polyethylene replica surfaces were created. Results show that static and dynamic water contact angles are more than 150° and sliding angle is about 5°. Such superhydrophobic surfaces have cauliflower like structure, e.g., cluster of spine like microstructures. This novel process can be combined with flowcasting process, a main technique for manufacturing plastic films, thus will be meaningful in developing new technique for manufacturing plastic superhydrophobic surfaces in a large scale.