A Novel Anti-Flashover Superhydrophobic Coating with Self-Assembly Characteristic of Surface Energy Differences

Because of the versatility of superhydrophobic materials, they have attracted a lot of attention even in power electronics, transportation, engineering, and other fields. The volume fraction of fluorinated silicon oxide nanoparticles in superhydrophobic materials is one of the most important factors. Increasing the volume fraction will decrease the stability between the coating and the hydrophobic surface. Especially, the flashover voltage of the coating gradually decreases from 10 to 35 vol.%. Meanwhile, the flashover voltage dispersion of the coating increases drastically after 30 vol.%. In order to improve the electrical properties of the superhydrophobic coating, self-assembly of surface energy differences strategy is proposed in this work. A binary filling phase of the coating is introduced by 2D boron nitride nanosheets and silicon oxide nanoparticles. Although Hexagonal boron nitride with high surface energy and low roughness, it will be spontaneously assembled and wrapped by silicon oxide nanoparticle based on surface energy differences, which forming a low surface energy filled phase. Experiment results prove that the flashover voltage of the superhydrophobic coating is optimized by the binary filling phase coating. This method offers new ideas for the selection of filling phase and application of superhydrophobic materials.

Automated summary

Due to their versatility, superhydrophobic materials have garnered significant attention in power electronics, transportation, engineering, and other fields. The volume fraction of fluorinated silicon oxide nanoparticles is a crucial factor in these materials. Increasing the volume fraction decreases the stability between the coating and the hydrophobic surface, resulting in a gradual decrease in flashover voltage and a significant increase in voltage dispersion after 30 vol.%. This study proposes a self-assembly strategy based on surface energy differences, utilizing boron nitride nanosheets and silicon oxide nanoparticles as a binary filling phase in the coating. Experimental results demonstrate the optimization of the superhydrophobic coating's flashover voltage using this binary filling phase coating, providing new ideas for filling phase selection and application of superhydrophobic materials.