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Bioinspired superhydrophobic surfaces are an artificial functional surface that mainly extracts morphological designs from natural organisms. In both laboratory research and industry, there is a need to develop ways of giving large-area surfaces water repellence. Currently, surface modification methods are subject to many challenging requirements such as a need for chemical-free treatment or high surface roughness. Laser micro-nanofabrications are a potential way of addressing these challenges, as they involve non-contact processing and outstanding patterning ability. This review briefly discusses multiple laser patterning methods, which could be used for surface structuring toward creating superhydrophobic surfaces.

Nd1− xCa xCrO3 (0≤ x≤0.25) solid solutions are synthesized using a two-step calcination solid-state reaction method and can potentially be used as interconnect applications in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The lattice parameters and unit cell volume decrease with an increase of the Ca2+ dopant concentration at the A-site. On the other hand, the relative density, electrical conductivity, and thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) increase with an increase of Ca2+ contents. Calcium doping significantly depresses the chromium vaporization of NdCrO3, thus accelerating the sintering and densification of the oxides. Nd1− xCa xCrO3 with x=0.25 shows the best electrical conductivity of 28.8 and 1.1 S/cm at 850°C in air and hydrogen, respectively, with a high relative density of 98.0% and a good TEC of 9.19 × 10−6 K−1 in the temperature range from 30° to 1000°C in air. This indicates that Nd0.75Ca0.25CrO3 is a promising candidate as an interconnect material for application in SOFCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although femtosecond laser microfabrication is one of the most promising three-dimensional (3D) fabrication techniques, it could suffer from low fabrication efficiency for structures with high 3D complexities. By using etching as a main assistant technique, the processing can be speeded up and an improved structure surface quality can be provided. However, the assistance of a single technique cannot satisfy the increasing demands of fabrication and integration of highly functional 3D microstructures. Therefore, a multi-technique-based 3D microfabrication method is required. In this paper, we briefly review the recent development on etching-assisted femtosecond laser microfabrication (EAFLM). Various processing approaches have been proposed to further strengthen the flexibilities of the EAFLM. With the use of the multi-technique-based microfabrication method, 3D microstructure arrays can be rapidly defined on planar or curved surfaces with high structure qualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]