Patent ID: 8535791

Claim:
A self-cleaning carbon nanostructure composite material comprising: a substrate; an adhesive coating on at least a portion of the substrate; and a plurality of carbon nanostructures formed into a predetermined architecture, each of the plurality of nanostructures having a substantially predetermined width and length, and the architecture of the plurality of nanostructures defining at least one orientation for a plurality of nanostructures, and defining the approximate spacing between nanostructures and/or groups of nanostructures, the carbon nanostructures architecture being at least partially adhered to the adhesive coating on the substrate in a manner that the architecture is stabilized in the predetermined architecture, wherein the carbon nanostructures architecture renders the composite material superhydrophobic, wherein the predetermined architecture comprises a plurality of nanostructures which include a combination of micron-size structures formed by bundles or groups of nanostructures, and nanometer-size structures formed by one or more individual nanostructures, wherein the nanometer-size structures formed by one or more individual nanostructures are about 1 to 40 nm in width; and wherein the composite material is substantially devoid of fluorinated coatings or other non-wetting materials.