A superhydrophobic polyacrylate film with good durability fabricated via spray coating

Abstract

A superhydrophobic film with good durability was fabricated by simple spraying a mixed solution of a POSS-based fluorinated acrylate polymer and ethyl-α-cyanoacrylate on a glass slide. The polymer was firstly synthesized via a typical free radical solution polymerization and could self-assemble into spherical micelle, thus leading to the formation of a rough film with hierarchical nano-microstructure through spray coating. The adding of ethyl-α-cyanoacrylate can improve the mechanical durability of the film. The film shows robust superhydrophobicity with a high water angle contact of 158° and an ultralow water sliding angle of 1.9°. More importantly, the film not only can withstand 25 abrasion cycles under a load of 200 g and approximately 5.5 m high static water pressure without losing superhydrophobicity, but also exhibits favorable resistance to acidic and basic solutions over a wide range of pH values from 2 to 14. Besides, the transmittance of the coated glass slide is above 75% in the visible light range of 400–800 nm, reflecting high transparency of the film. This film may be a promising candidate in practical applications, including coating of optical devices, solar cell panel and outdoor instruments, because this method to fabricate supehydrophobic surfaces is facile, effective and scalable, and the superhydrophobic coating has good water resistance, high transparency and enough durability.