A stable solid slippery surface with thermally assisted self-healing ability

Abstract

The volatilization, migration and contamination of lubricating fluids has seriously affected the durability of slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPSs) and greatly limited their applications. To solve these problems, a stable solid slippery surface composed of paraffin wax and a porous film is reported in this work. Several liquid droplets with different surface tensions can slide on the surface without stain. Compared with SLIPSs, this solid slippery surface exhibits outstanding stability, even when immersed in different pH solutions and contacted with other materials. Significantly, the solid slippery surface can rapidly self-heal from physical damage during the heating–cooling process. The lowest self-healing temperature can be adjusted by tuning the percentage of paraffin wax and liquid paraffin. This work gives a new insight for dealing with the challenges of SLIPSs.