Universal polysiloxane additives for UV curable self-cleaning engineered surfaces

Commercially feasible self-cleaning surfaces are highly desirable for various technological applications. However, the current approaches are challenging to scale up and often lack the desirable performance. The synthesis of novel siloxane-based additives for the oversimple fabrication of surfaces with excellent self-cleaning properties is reported herein. These siloxane-based additives are synthesized by the free-radical polymerization of methacryloxypropyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate (THFA) monomer at various compositions, and these additives were subsequently incorporated into UV curable coatings. In total, four novel additives and 16 different compositions are evaluated in this study for their water, oil, and hexadecane repellent properties, as well as for their anti-ink performance. The surface roughness and textures of these coatings are characterized via atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to map the surface chemical compositions of these coatings.

Automated summary

This study reports a method for synthesizing self-cleaning surfaces using siloxane-based additives, which are tested and evaluated for their repellent properties against water, oil, and hexadecane. The results show that these additives can significantly improve the resistance of coatings to water, oil, and hexadecane, as well as demonstrate excellent anti-ink performance.