Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Glass Surfaces by Hierarchical Micro Powder Blasting-Assisted Silanization

Improved methods for generating superhydrophobic glass surfaces are needed to advance diverse industrial, medical, and consumer applications. Here we report a simple, robust, and scalable process for producing superhydrophobic glass surfaces with hierarchical topography that results in exceptionally high water contact angles. The two-step process combines micro powder blasting to generate micrometer-scale surface texture on a glass surface, followed by the formation of a dense network of nanometer-scale silicone filaments through liquid-phase chemical reaction with methyltrichlorosilane. The combination of the microscale glass surface and low surface energy silicone nanofilaments reliably yields superhydrophobic surfaces with sessile water contact angles approaching 180°. The reliable and low-cost process does not require surface activation prior to nanofilament growth and can be applied to glass or other silica substrates of arbitrary size and shape without the need for a clean room facility or complex infrastructure while yielding fully nonwetting surfaces.