Preparation of a Super‐Hydrophobic Zinc Coating with a Hierarchical Structure Inherited from the Indicalamus Leaf through Electroplating

Abstract Inspired by the idea of deriving morph‐genetic materials from natural templates, the indicalamus leaf is used as a template in an electroplating method designed to prepare a zinc surface with a hierarchical microstructure similar to that of the indicalamus leaf. The leaf templates are first sintered at high temperature under vacuum to leave the carbon skeleton of indicalamus leaf behind; a layer of zinc is then plated directly onto this surface. The zinc coating inherits both the nanoscale slice structures and micrometer‐scale mastoid structures of the leaf. This hierarchical structure confers the hydrophobicity of the leaf onto the zinc coating. The resulting surface exhibits super‐hydrophobicity with low adhesion and a contact angle as high as 167°. The influence of various current densities on the hydrophobic properties of the fabricated zinc surfaces is studied, and the optimal parameters for the preparation of the super‐hydrophobic zinc surface are determined.