Superhydrophobic graphene-based materials: Surface construction and functional applications

Abstract

Many naturally occurring surfaces have superhydrophobicity that fulfils their functional demands, which has inspired considerable interest to develop similar artificial superhydrophobic surfaces with a variety of functionalities. Graphene is an ideal candidate for functional superhydrophobic surfaces due to its exceptional physicochemical properties. The recent advances in this emerging field are summarized, including the wetting behavior of water on graphene and the formation of crumpling/nanoparticle/foam-induced hierarchical structures, with emphasis on fundamental understanding for related processes. The potential applications in energy, environmental remediation, and thermal management are also discussed. Superhydrophobic graphene-based surfaces have attracted strong interest and experienced rapid development in recent years, due to their huge potential in energy, environmental, and engineering technology applications. Very recent advances are overviewed, including wetting behavior of graphene, superhydrophobicity induced by crumpling, functionalization, polymer/inorganic nanoparticles, and foam structures, with emphasis on related fundamental understanding. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.