Holder Daniel, Reichle Paul, Umlauf Georg, Weber Rudolf, Barz Jakob, Graf Thomas
Institut für Strahlwerkzeuge (IFSW), University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.
ARENA2036 Research Campus, Stuttgart, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 29;15(1):27595. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-11750-z.
Wettability, the ability of a liquid to spread on or repel from a surface, holds particular significance for applications requiring extreme control of liquid interaction, including self-cleaning, anti-icing, dropwise condensation, anti-fogging, and enhanced fluid transport. This work investigates the synergistic combination of laser surface texturing and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) to achieve tunable, permanent, and instantly available super-wettability states on metal surfaces. Ultrashort laser pulses were employed to produce various surface textures, ranging from fine nanoscale ripples to rougher microtextures such as microgrooves, spikes, and holes, on stainless steel AISI 304, copper, and the titanium alloy Ti64. PECVD coatings, including thin layers of glass and polymers, were subsequently applied to these textures to modulate surface chemistry and achieve the desired wettability.The results demonstrate that superhydrophilic surfaces with a water contact angle θ < 10° were achieved by combining rough textures with thin glass coatings, offering long-term stability that could be simply renewed via ultrasonic cleaning. Conversely, superhydrophobic surfaces with a water contact angle θ > 150° were instantly obtained using polymer coatings on rough textures. These functionalized surfaces also exhibited exceptional liquid repellence for complex liquids, such as milk and beer, making them particularly suitable for special applications using solutions or emulsions. The integration of laser texturing and PECVD coating provides a versatile and simple pathway for fabricating functional surfaces with tunable wettability and long-term performance across multiple metals and fluids.
润湿性是指液体在表面上扩散或排斥的能力，对于需要严格控制液体相互作用的应用具有特别重要的意义，包括自清洁、防冰、滴状冷凝、防雾和增强流体传输。这项工作研究了激光表面纹理化与等离子体增强化学气相沉积（PECVD）的协同组合，以在金属表面实现可调、永久且即时可用的超润湿性状态。采用超短激光脉冲在AISI 304不锈钢、铜和钛合金Ti64上产生各种表面纹理，从精细的纳米级波纹到更粗糙的微纹理，如微槽、尖峰和孔洞。随后将包括玻璃和聚合物薄层的PECVD涂层应用于这些纹理，以调节表面化学性质并实现所需的润湿性。结果表明，通过将粗糙纹理与薄玻璃涂层相结合，可实现水接触角θ<10°的超亲水表面，其具有长期稳定性，可通过超声清洗简单恢复。相反，在粗糙纹理上使用聚合物涂层可立即获得水接触角θ>150°的超疏水表面。这些功能化表面对牛奶和啤酒等复杂液体也表现出优异的拒液性，使其特别适用于使用溶液或乳液的特殊应用。激光纹理化和PECVD涂层的结合为制造具有可调润湿性和跨多种金属及流体的长期性能的功能表面提供了一条通用且简单的途径。
