Research on sliding angles of water droplets on the hierarchical structured superhydrophobic surfaces

Certain plant leaves, such as the lotus leaf, are known to be superhydrophobic due to the hierarchical structures on the leaf surfaces. In this paper, two kinds of superhydrophobic plants leaves with hierarchical structured surface, including aged lotus and loropetalum chinense leaves, were introduced. Further, the surface structural models were established for the introduced leaves corresponding to their surface micromorphologies. More importantly, the theoretical modes for predicting sliding angles of liquid droplets on the introduced leaf surfaces were formulated. In addition, the role of surface parameters in determining the superhydrophobicity of hierarchical structured leaves was demonstrated effective. The results of this paper could be used as a guidance for designing desired superhydrophobic property of hierarchical surfaces.