Engineering Robust Superhydrophobic Materials

Superhydrophobic materials exhibit exceptional water repellency and hold great promise for diverse engineering applications. However, their large-scale practical deployment in real-world scenarios remains challenging, primarily owing to the poor stability of their superhydrophobicity. This review provides a comprehensive understanding of the critical challenges governing robust superhydrophobicity, with particular emphasis on Cassie–Baxter state stability, mechanical robustness, and weather resistance. Representative engineering strategies are compared to address these issues and enhance the robustness of superhydrophobic materials. The durability of superhydrophobic materials under real-world is underscored to facilitate industrial translation. Finally, future prospects of superhydrophobic materials are discussed with a focus on engineering-oriented performance criteria, scalable fabrication technologies, molecular-level design, and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted methodology, which will enable the rational design of engineering robust superhydrophobic materials.