Environmentally friendly, durable and transparent anti-fouling coatings applicable onto various substrates

Anti-fouling coatings are of great interest because of their unique wettability and self-cleaning property, but their widespread applications are seriously hindered by low stability, heavy usage of fluorinated compounds and low transparency, etc. Here, we report a new kind of smooth anti-fouling coatings based on methyltrimethoxysilane. The coatings were fabricated by preparing a stock solution via hydrolytic condensation of methyltrimethoxysilane in isopropanol, followed by wiping the glass slide with the non-woven fabric that sucked the stock solution. The transparent anti-fouling coatings have excellent anti-fouling properties against various fluids such as water, n-hexadecane, diiodomethane, daily encountered liquids (e.g., milk, coffee, red wine, soy sauce and cooking oil), mark seals, artificial fingerprint liquids and paints (both water-based and oil-based), etc. The fluids can easily roll off from the 4-30 degrees titled coatings. Furthermore, the coatings have good mechanical (200 cycles of friction, scratching and bending), chemical (saline, acidic and basic solutions) and thermal stability (boiling and 300 degrees C heating) regarding the easy sliding behavior of the probing liquids. In addition, the anti-fouling coatings are applicable onto various substrates via the same procedure. The smooth anti-fouling coatings have huge potential applications, owing to the excellent anti-fouling properties, high stability as well as the non-fluorinated and simple preparation method. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A new type of smooth anti-fouling coatings based on methyltrimethoxysilane was developed, showing excellent anti-fouling properties and potential applications. These transparent coatings not only effectively prevent fouling, but also exhibit good mechanical, chemical, and thermal stability.