Superhydrophobic
materials with micro/nanotextured surface have attracted tremendous
attention owing to their potential applications such as self-cleaning,
antifouling, anti-icing, and corrosion prevention. Such a micro/nanotextured
surface is a key for high water repellency. However, such a texture
is fragile and readily damaged when the material is deformed, scratched,
or sliced off. Thus, it is challenging to develop superhydrophobic
materials that can sustain high water repellency after experiencing
such a mechanical deformation and damage. Here we report abrasion/scratching/slicing/droplet
impacting/bending/twisting-tolerant superhydrophobic flexible materials
with porcupinefish-like structure by using a composite of micrometer-scale
tetrapod-shaped ZnO and poly(dimethylsiloxane). Owing to the geometry
of the tetrapod and elasticity of poly(dimethylsiloxane), the composite
material exhibits stable water repellency after 1000 abrasion and
1000 bending cycles, or even after their surfaces were sliced off
many times. The material maintains superhydrophobicity even under
a mechanically deformed state such as bending and twisting. The materials
can be painted on a variety of substrates and molded into desired
shapes and used in a myriad of applications that require superhydrophobicity.