A superhydrophobic coating to create multi-functional materials with mechanical/chemical/physical robustness

Abstract

Inspired by nature, artificial superhydrophobic surfaces with high mechanical/chemical robustness have been fabricated successfully and have drawn much attention in recent decades. With the rapid development and extensive demand of superhydrophobic surfaces, creating a universal superhydrophobic coating, which can be used for hard and soft substrates as well as can resist large shape-deformations without losing surface anti-wetting property, is of urgent requirement but is still a challenge. Here, we prepare an ultra-stretchable and fluorine-free superhydrophobic coating to develop robust and multi-functional surfaces. The as-created surfaces display strong resistance to extremely stretching, different mechanical treatments, chemical corrosions, high/low temperature, and UV irradiation without losing superhydrophobic property. Additionally, such coating can endow contaminant absorption, oil/water separation, and self-cleaning functions to different substrates and displays excellent antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria due to the presence of N+ on the surface. With the multifaceted advantages, the coating can be potentially used in chemical engineering, infrastructure and transportation facility.