View article

Creating thin (<100 nm) hydrophobic coatings that are durable in wet conditions remains challenging. Although the dropwise condensation of steam on thin hydrophobic coatings can enhance condensation heat transfer by 1000%, these coatings easily delaminate. Designing interfaces with high adhesion while maintaining a nanoscale coating thickness is key to overcoming this challenge. In nature, cell membranes face this same challenge where nanometer-thick lipid bilayers achieve high adhesion in wet environments to maintain integrity. Nature ensures this adhesion by forming a lipid interface having two nonpolar surfaces, demonstrating high physicochemical resistance to biofluids attempting to open the interface. Here, developing an artificial lipid-like interface that utilizes fluorine–carbon molecular chains can achieve durable nanometric hydrophobic coatings. The application of our approach to create a …