The superhydrophobic materials suffer from many shortcomings in the practical use, especially, the poor durability. We use a vacuum-pressure impregnation method to treat the poplar with the synthetic raw material of silica. In the vessels of poplar, the silica nano spheres are then generated through a sol-gel process of the TEOS in the ammonium hydroxide and the ethanol, to create a robust hierarchi cal rough structure on the wood, as well as the microvessels of poplar. After the decoration, the poplar exhibits not only an excellent water repellency but also a more outstanding durability. The superhydrophobic product during the air exposure, the immersion(in water, acid/alka line liquid or common organic solvent) and the washing tests still displays an excellent superhydrophobicity.

superhydrophobicity  /  poplar materals  /  SiO₂ nanospheres  /  vacuum-pressure impregnation method