Scalable and Mechanically Durable Superhydrophobic Coating of SiO2/Polydimethylsiloxane/Epoxy Nanocomposite

The mechanical durability of superhydrophobic surfaces is of significance for their practical applications. However, few reports about superhydrophobic coating on certain substrates took into consideration both the mechanical stability of the superhydrophobic coating and adhesion stability between the coating and the substrate. Herein, we put forward a facile and efficient strategy to construct robust superhydrophobic coatings by simply spray-coating a composite suspension of SiO2 nanoparticles, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and epoxy resin (EP) on substrates pretreated with an EP base-coating. The as-obtained coating exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity with water contact angle of 163 degrees and sliding angle of 3.5 degrees, which could endure UV irradiation of 180 h, immersion in acidic or basic solutions for 168 h, and outdoor exposure for over 30 days. Notably, the coating surface retained superhydrophobicity after being successively impacted with faucet water for 1 h, impinged with 360 g sand grains, and abraded with sandpaper of 120 grid under a load of 500 g for 5 m distance. The outstanding mechanical stability was mainly attributed to the cross-linking of EP and the elastic nature of PDMS which ensured strong cohesion inside the whole coating and to the substrate. Additionally, the coating showed self-healing capacity against O2 plasma etching. The method is simple with the materials commercially available and is expected to be widely applied in outdoor applications.

Automated summary

In this study, a simple and efficient method was proposed to construct robust superhydrophobic coatings by spray-coating a composite suspension on substrates pretreated with an EP base-coating. The obtained coating exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity and showed outstanding mechanical stability and self-healing capacity. The method is simple, with commercially available materials, and is expected to have wide applications in outdoor settings.