Anti-biofouling superhydrophobic surface fabricated by picosecond laser texturing of stainless steel

摘要

Highlights•The ps laser is suitable for fabricating the SH with hierarchical micro-nano structures on the stainless steel.•The specimens with SHS demonstrate nearly 50% decrease of the average microbe attachment area ratio•More abundant micro-nano structures induced by laser leads to the better anti-biofouling performance.•The interconnected micro-structure and abundant nano-structure are very important elements to anti-biofouling SHSs.AbstractAnti-biofouling technology is based on specifically designed materials and coatings. This is an enduring goal in the maritime industries, such as shipping, offshore oil exploration, and aquaculture. Recently, research of the relationship between wettability and antifouling effectiveness has attracted considerable attention, due to the anti-biofouling properties of the lotus leaf and shark skin. In this study, super-hydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) with controllable periodic structures were fabricated on AISI304 stainless steel by a picosecond laser, and their anti-biofouling performance were investigated by seawater immersion for five weeks in summertime. The results showed that the specimens with SHS demonstrate significant anti-biofouling effect as compared with the bare stainless steel plate. We observed that nearly 50% decrease of the average microbe attachment area ratio (Avg. MAAR) could be obtained. The micro-groove SHS with more abundant hierarchical micro-nano structures showed better anti-biofouling performance than the micro-pit SHS.