Abstract
This paper reports the application of superhydrophobic coatings on cotton fabrics and their functionalities for anti- and de-icing efficacy. Superhydrophobic cotton fabrics with different water-repellent properties have been achieved by decorating the surface of pristine cotton fibers with ZnO structures of varying sizes and shapes through an in situ solution growth process, followed by the treatment of the surface with low-surface-energy coating such as Teflon. The surface morphology of the treated cotton fabrics was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The surface wettability of the treated fabrics was evaluated through the measurement of static contact angle (SCA), contact angle hysteresis (CAH), and sliding angle (SA) of a water droplet. The anti- and de-icing behaviors of the treated fabrics were evaluated through both static (sessile droplet) and dynamic (spraying) tests. The results show that the superhydrophobic fabric with a higher SCA and the lower CAH/SA has superior anti- and de-icing behaviors in both the static and dynamic conditions. Compared to hard substrates, the soft, flexible, and porous (air-permeable) superhydrophobic fabrics can lead to broader applicability of textile-based materials for the design and fabrication of anti- and de-icing materials. Furthermore, the multi-scale surface structures of fabrics (fibers, yarns, and weaving constructions) combining with the hierarchical micro-nanostructures of the ZnO coating provides an ideal platform for anti-icing studies.
Highlights
IntroductionSuperhydrophobic materials and surfaces [1,2,3,4] have attracted great interest because of their extreme water-repellent surface property for many potential applications including self-cleaning [5,6,7], hydrodynamic friction reduction [8,9,10], anti-icing [11,12,13,14], anticorrosion [15,16,17,18], biotechnology [19,20,21], thermal systems [22,23,24,25], and micro- and nanodevices [26,27,28]
The result demonstrates that the elongated growth time with the use of with the use of surfactant (0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)) allows the reduction of the size of ZnO particles and makes surfactant (0.1% SDS) allows the reduction of the size of ZnO particles and makes them have the shape them have the shape of nanowire morphology and fully cover the surface
The origin of the morphology difference is due to morphology difference is due to the chemical interaction between the ZnO seed crystal and the ions the chemical interaction between the ZnO seed crystal and the ions produced by the ionization of the produced by the ionization of the SDS [36,37]
Summary
Superhydrophobic materials and surfaces [1,2,3,4] have attracted great interest because of their extreme water-repellent surface property for many potential applications including self-cleaning [5,6,7], hydrodynamic friction reduction [8,9,10], anti-icing [11,12,13,14], anticorrosion [15,16,17,18], biotechnology [19,20,21], thermal systems [22,23,24,25], and micro- and nanodevices [26,27,28]. Aizenberg’s team [13] designed nanostructured surfaces that could be used for anti-icing applications. Their experimental results show that highly ordered superhydrophobic materials can be designed to remain entirely ice-free down to circa −25 to −30 ◦ C, due to their ability to repel impacting water before ice nucleation occurs. Gao et al indicated that the anti-icing competence of superhydrophobic surfaces depended on the superhydrophobicity and the size of the Coatings 2018, 8, 198; doi:10.3390/coatings8060198 www.mdpi.com/journal/coatings
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