Imparting Superhydrophobicity with a Hierarchical Block Copolymer Coating

A robust and transparent silica‐like coating that imparts superhydrophobicity to a surface through its hierarchical multilevel self‐assembled structure is demonstrated. This approach involves iterative steps of spin‐coating, annealing, and etching of polystyrene‐block‐polydimethylsiloxane block copolymer thin films to form a tailored multilayer nanoscale topographic pattern with a water contact angle up to 155°. A model based on the hierarchical topography is developed to calculate the wetting angle and optimize the superhydrophobicity, in agreement with the experimental trends, and explaining superhydrophobicity arising through the combination of roughness at different lengthscales. Additionally, the mechanical robustness and optically passive properties of the resulting hydrophobic surfaces are demonstrated. A robust and transparent silica‐like coating created through block copolymer self‐assembly imparts superhydrophobicity to a surface through its hierarchical multilevel structure. A model based on the hierarchical topography calculates the wetting angle and optimizes the superhydrophobicity, in agreement with the experimental trends, and explains how the superhydrophobicity arises through a combination of roughness at different lengthscales.