Facile water-based superhydrophobic coating

Superhydrophobic coatings have a wide range of applications in all areas of our lives, however, poor mechanical robustness limits their practical use. The use of organic solvents to prepare coatings can pose safety and environment pollution problems, also increase the cost of production. Water-based coating solution is used to prepare superhydrophobic coatings, which are safe and easy to scale. Thus, reseachers now demonstrate that silica nanoparticles, fluorinated alkyl silanes (FAS), fluorocarbon surfactants (FS-3100), and water can form stable system for preparation of superhydrophobic coatings on soft and hard substrates.

New way of thinking for the later development

After coating treatment, the superhydrophobic coatings exhibit excellent chemical stability (resistant to acid, alkali, salt, and ultraviolet radiation) and good mechanical robustness due to superhydrophobicity and crosslinking effects of FAS and FS-3100. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic coatings can delay water freezing time and poses superior anti-icing performance. As the researchers underline, this simple water-based coating solution may provide a new way of thinking for the later development of new coating technologies that are economical for all applications.

The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 182, September 2023.

Reading tip

The EC Tech Report Water-borne Coatings provides you with all you need to know about the transition from solvent-based to water-borne coatings. Loaded with handpicked content from the European Coatings Journal, videos from conferences, well as our most-read books, it provides unique insights into how to meet customers’ expectations and legal requirements at the same time. Covering the basics of water-borne systems, multiple technical articles also discuss special wetting and dispersing additives, rheological properties and also biocide-free alternatives.