An effective method to significantly enhance the robustness and adhesion-to-substrate of high transmittance superamphiphobic silica thin films

Mechanically robust, high transmittance and superamphiphobic multi-functional coatings were fabricated for the first time. Three different nanoparticles were used to sequentially assemble the thin films. The simple chemical vapour deposition (CVD) of tetraethyl orthosilicate was applied to improve the robustness and adhesion-to-substrate of the coating. The contact angle of coating reached 171 degrees for water and 152 degrees for ethylene glycol. The maximum transmittance measured using an integrating-sphere photometer was 98.7% at 1580 nm. The coatings withstood the 4H pencil scratching test, tape peeling test, sand abrasion test and water-drop impact test. The effects of CVD conditions on the robustness and adhesion-to-substrate of the coatings were also investigated. The multi-functional coatings could overcome the large barriers commonly encountered in practical applications due to their good robustness, high transmittance and superior superamphiphobicity.