Analysis of long-term durability of superhydrophobic properties under continuous contact with water.

In view of more and more extending areas of application of hydrophobic and superhydrophobic materials and coatings, the problem of degradation of superhydrophobic state becomes extremely important. In this paper, the results of studies of time evolution of water contact angle on some siloxane-based hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces in the conditions of long-term continuous contact with water are presented. Different mechanisms responsible for reversible and nonreversible deterioration of contact angle values were discussed and experimentally verified. We noted that evolution of water contact angle in time in the conditions of continuous contact with water needs to be considered when studying the durability of superhydrophobic coating because of its high sensitivity to the state of the coating and the details of its chemical structure.