NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.
Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.
An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Hierarchical Roughness Makes Superhydrophobic States Stable
Published
Author(s)
Michael Nosonovsky, Bharat Bhushan
Abstract
Roughness enhances hydrophobicity of a solid surface leading to high contact angles with water. To achieve low contact angle hysteresis along with a high contact angle, superhydrophobic surfaces should form composite interface (CI) with air pockets in the valleys between asperities. The CI is often unstable and can be irreversibly transformed into the homogeneous interface. We formulate stability criterion, identify mechanisms, which lead to destabilization of the CI, and show that these mechanisms are scale-dependent. To effectively resist these scale-dependent mechanisms, a multiscale (hierarchical) roughness is required. Such multiscale roughness is found in natural and artificial superhydrophobic surfaces.
Nosonovsky, M.
and Bhushan, B.
(2017),
Hierarchical Roughness Makes Superhydrophobic States Stable, Microelectronic Engineering
(Accessed October 13, 2025)