A Facile Method to Prepare Superhydrophobic Coatings for Various Substrates

In this study, the superhydrophobic composite coatings for self-cleaning were fabricated by mixing fluorine resin and two kinds of nanoparticles of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and SiO2. When the mass ratio of CNTs to SiO2 is 2:3 and the added amount of nanoparticles is 75 wt. %, the superhydrophobic composite coatings with a water contact angle of 156.8 degrees show the best self-cleaning property and 3.6 degrees of contact angle hysteresis. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic composite coatings demonstrate good properties such as chemical resistance, thermal stability, and mechanical stability. The superhydrophobic composite coatings could be used for oil/water separation and could be applied to various substrate surfaces such as glass plates, cloth, board, steel plate, PVC plate, and so on. The superhydrophobic composite coatings show practical value in many fields because of their low cost and large area preparation.

Automated summary

This study fabricated superhydrophobic composite coatings with self-cleaning properties by mixing fluorine resin, carbon nanotubes, and SiO2 nanoparticles. The results showed that the superhydrophobic composite coatings exhibited the best self-cleaning performance and contact angle hysteresis at a mass ratio of CNTs to SiO2 of 2:3 and a nanoparticle addition of 75 wt. %. Furthermore, the coatings demonstrated good chemical resistance, thermal stability, and mechanical stability.