Fabrication of durable superhydrophobic surface through silica-dissolution-assisted etching template approach

ABSTRACT

A convenient fabrication approach is proposed for a durable superhydrophobic epoxy surface. By duplicating micro-rough topography of the template, covalently grafting with TiO₂ nanoparticles, and treating with perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane, the surface shows superhydrophobicity with a high static contact angle (162.0°) and a low sliding angle (2.5°), respectively. And its WCA has hardly changed along with the pH value of solutions. Besides, the superhydrophobic property remains constant even after 144 h long-term UV radiation or 16 cycles of friction tests. The surface also exhibits superior self-cleaning resilience for organic contaminants of oleic acid, kerosene, lubricants, and vegetable oil by TiO₂ photocatalysis degradation of pollution.

KEYWORDS:

• Superhydrophobic
• template method
• fabrication
• epoxy resin
• durability
• self-cleaning
• resilience
• photocatalysis degradation

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant 50321042017001.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant 50321042017001.