Due to an excellent stability in a high temperature and pressure atmosphere, slippery liquid infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) have special functions including self-healing, anti-icing, and anti-biofouling. However, the short service life and complex preparation procedures hinder practical applications. 

In a study published in Chem Eng J, the research group led by Prof. WU Lixin from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported a self-cleaning slippery surface with ultra-long service life.  

Combining UV-curing with atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) treatment, the researchers introduced a methacrylate functional group for UV-curing in resin system and a compound comprising halogen species as initiator for ATRP treatment. By grafting fluorine-rich polymer chain from bromide atoms, they prepared a superhydrophobic surface (SHS), and obtained the SLIPS by infusing lubricant oil in SHS. 

The characterization results revealed that the SHS exhibits a favorable stability including chemical resistance and physical damage. After the immersion test in acid or alkane solution, the static water contact angles remain at around 160° with an excellent water repellency. The excellent toughness of as-prepared SHS enables itself to show an outstanding superhydrophobicity, not only in a flat form but also in a bended shape.  

Then, the researchers injected as-prepared SHS with porous structure with lubricate oil to construct a SLIPS taking the advantage of the extreme low surface tension. To estimate the durability of as-prepared SLIPS, they used a partial pressure funnel to drip water droplets to the top of the SLIPS-6 tilted at 15° and allowed it to flow through the whole sample. With the water volume continuously increasing to 3000 mL, the sliding angle (SA) of the test part of SLIPS-6 was still lower than 10° (9°), preserving a stable slippery property. The service life of SLIPS in this study extended 50 times.  

Besides, the researchers proved that the as-prepared SLIPS has an excellent repellency when being contacted with water or other organic liquids even with a high viscosity. 

This study proposes a new strategy for the facile and controllable preparation of durable superhydrophobic surface and SLIPS.