Combination of carbon dots for the design of superhydrophobic fluorescent materials with bioinspired micro-nano multiscale hierarchical structure

Exploring a facile, low-cost, scalable, and environmentally friendly fluorescent superhydmphobic material is urgent and significant for the further development of superhydrophobic materials. In this work, we developed two series of superhydmphobic materials with different scale hierarchical structures. 0.5FSi-SiO2@MMT possessed a dual-scale hierarchical structure and showed a WCA of 155.62 +/- 1 degrees and a WSA of 4.8 +/- 0.2 degrees. On this basis, by introducing CDs, the denser multi-scale hierarchical structure of FSi-SiO2/0.1CDs@OMMT was achieved resulting in a higher WCA of 169.22 +/- 2 degrees and a lower WSA of 2.3 +/- 0.2 degrees. FSi-SiO2/0.1CDs@OMMT possessed a fluorescence property derived from the doping of biomass carbon quantum dots prepared from banana peels and displayed an emission band located at 430 nm. In addition, FSi-SiO2/0.1CDs@OMMT also exhibited good heat and dispersion stability. Interestingly, chemical resistance was significantly improved after introducing CDs. It is anticipated that this work will provide a facile and general approach with the industrial potential to fabricate superhydrophobic materials with hierarchical micro-nano structures and blue fluorescence for self-cleaning and light conversion applications.

Automated summary

In this study, superhydrophobic materials with different scale hierarchical structures were developed and fluorescent properties were successfully introduced. The results showed that the introduction of biomass carbon quantum dots can improve the water-repellency of the material and enhance chemical resistance.