Spray-Coated Metal Hexadecanoate-Based Coatings with Robust Superhydrophobicity and Repairability

Abstract

With the aim of creating a new avenue for the real applications of the superhydrophobic surface, we succeeded in fabricating metal hexadecanoate (e.g., zinc hexadecanoate) based superhydrophobic coatings on virtually any substrates by the simple spray-coating. Hierarchical rough surface morphology was achieved on the coating with the contact angle of about 160° and the sliding angle of about 6°. The advantages of the present approach include the cheap raw materials, environmentally benign solvents, an industrial implementation method, and easy repairability and applicability so as to make a great application potential in practice. Water repellency of the fabricated coating was demonstrated by visible experiment results and contact angle measurements. The robustness and repairability of the superhydrophobic coating were also investigated by the designed experiments.

Keywords:

• Coating
• metal hexadecanoate
• repairability
• robustness
• superhydrophobicity

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support from China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2013M5320235), Jiangsu Key Lab of Material Tribology Foundation (Grant No. kjsmcx2012003), and the Senior Intellectuals Fund of Jiangsu University (Grant No. 12JDG092).