Fabrication of durable fluorine-free polyphenylene sulfide/silicone resin composite superhydrophobic coating enhanced by carbon nanotubes/graphene fillers

In this paper, a durable fluorine-free polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) composite superhydrophobic coating was fabricated by a simple spaying method. The low surface energy was provided by silicone resin (SiR) and the hierarchical structure was designed by reinforced fillers, carbon nanotubes/graphene (CNTs/RGO), which was allied by coupling agent of NH2-C3H6-Si(OC2H5)3 (KH-550). The best obtained coating possessed excellent superhydrophobic performance with the water contact angle (WCA) of (161 +/- 1)degrees and sliding angle (SA) of (2 +/- 1)degrees. Meanwhile, the final PPS/SiR/CNTs/RGO superhydrophobic coating exhibited favorable self-cleaning and anti-wear ability. After 5000 times friction, the wettability of that still maintained at WCA 139 degrees, the weight loss of which was a fifth of the pure PPS coating. The improvement of mechanical stability was ascribed to the synergistic effect of SiR and CNTs/RGO. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) testified that the coating could be used in high temperature environment (320 degrees C) for a long time. Simultaneously, the potentiodynamic polarization (Tafel) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results indicated that the prepared coating possessed excellent anti-corrosion performance with lower corrosion current (1.47 x 10(-8) A/cm(2)) and high protection efficiency (99.958%) even after 28 days immersion in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. From above, this durable PPS composite superhydrophobic coating could provide promising applications for industrial fields.