Fabrication and mechanical durability of superhydrophobic films on aluminum

A simple sol-gel process was developed in this paper to render superhydrophobic aluminum with mechanical durability. Scanning electron microscopy, FT IR spectroscopy and water contact-angle measurements were used to analyze the morphological features, chemical composition and wettability of prepared samples, respectively. Moreover, the mechanical durability of the superhydrophobic films on aluminum was evaluated in a ballon-plate configuration. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.