Rapid construction of superhydrophobic fabric coating assisted with ‘Tyndall Effect’

ABSTRACT

A simple, accurate and rapid construction method of superhydrophobic fabric coating was provided. Firstly, a homogeneous solution was obtained by dissolving a certain amount of silicone resin and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) in N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF). Then, a nanocrystals solution system was made by adding ethanol to the homogeneous solution to induce the crystallization of PMMA. Finally, a superhydrophobic fabric coating was constructed by casting the nanocrystals solution on the surface of cotton cloth. “Tyndall effect”, scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), water contact angle (CA) and self-cleaning test were adopted to characterize the solution system and the coating. Results showed that the nanocrystals solution had obvious “Tyndall effect”. The water CA of the coating reached 153.1°, displaying obvious superhydrophobicity. Besides, concave-convex micro-nano structures were produced on the surface of the fabric coating and endowed it with good self-cleaning capacity.

KEYWORDS:

• Superhydrophobic
• fabric
• solvent-induced
• crystallization
• Tyndall effect

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Education Department of Hunan Province in China under project number 153380.