Large scale fabrication of durable and robust super hydrophobic spray coatings with excellent repairable and anti corrosion performance
Abstract Some drawbacks such as complicated preparation processes, more expensive modification, and lack of durability have restricted the practical applications of super hydrophobic coatings. In this paper, we present a simple and inexpensive approach to fabricating a robust super hydrophobic coating by spraying a fluorine free suspension composed of epoxy resin (EP) polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and modified SiO2 on various substrates. This coating exhibited excellent super hydrophobicity with a contact angle of 159.5deg and a sliding angle of 3.8deg. The as prepared super hydrophobic EP PDMS@SiO2 coating retained super hydrophobicity after exposure to harsh conditions including immersion in boiling water for 2 h or liquid nitrogen for 1 h, intense UV radiation for 48 h, and intense chemical corrosion. Moreover, the resulting super hydrophobic coating can withstand various mechanical durability experiments such as tape peeling after knife scraping, hand kneading, and 100 sandpaper abrasion cycles. Furthermore, the fabricated coatings also exhibit a self healing ability against O2 plasma etching, excellent self cleaning in air and oil conditions and outstanding anti corrosion performance. We believe that this easy, environmentally friendly method has great potential for large scale practical applications in numerous fields.
Chemical Engineering Journal