One-step fabrication of wear-resistant superhydrophobic coating based on aminosilane-functionalized diatomaceous earth

Facile fabrication of superhydrophobic coatings with excellent mechanical robustness is highly desired in practical application. Herein, a convenient and effective strategy for one-step fabrication of robust volumetric superhydrophobic coating was developed containing aminosilane-functionalized cylindrical diatomaceous earth (DE) particles and a polyurethane (PU) resin. Due to the strong chemical cross-linking between the amino groups and the isocyanates, the superhydrophobic DE particles were strongly anchored to the PU resin, thus improving the wear resistance of the coating. The coating could withstand 20 m sandpaper abrasion under a constant pressure of 2.6 kPa. The wear resistance of the coating improved nearly 471% compared with the superhydrophobic DE/PU composite coating prepared by physical-blending. Moreover, the coating also demonstrated great self-cleaning performance, excellent chemical stability and underwater durability. Additionally, the as-prepared coating could be easily applied to various substrates and exhibited high rigidity (3H-4H), good adhesion (4B-5B), and great flexibility (impact resistance of 1 Kg center dot m).

Automated summary

The study developed a method for one-step fabrication of durable volumetric superhydrophobic coating with excellent physical and chemical properties.