Abstract
The facile, simple, highly efficient, and fluorine-free fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces on fabrics with high durability has attracted considerable attention because of its urgent practical application. The simple dip-coating method was adopted to make a stable and durable polydimethylsiloxane/stearic acid/silica (PDMS/STA/SiO2) superhydrophobic fabric. The fabric’s surface morphology, roughness, and composition were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, respectively. The PDMS/STA/SiO2-coated fabric: demonstrated strong superhydrophobicity (a water contact angle (WCA) of around 163°), efficiently repelled different liquids (milk, coffee, orange juice, Coca-Cola, and 1 M of HCl and NaOH) with a contact angle above 155°, had excellent self-cleaning performance, and retained superhydrophobicity with a WCA greater than 150° after 72 h of ultraviolet irradiation and 700 cycles of mechanical abrasion. The PDMS/STA/SiO2 coating had few influences on the color fastness of the fabric. Superhydrophobic coatings are expected to be practically applied in the textile industry.
Highlights
Polyester fabrics can be extensively applied in daily life and industries by virtue of their advantages such as comfortableness, excellent elasticity, wrinkle resistance, and breathability [1,2,3]
The washed fabric was used as a self-supported substrate to gain an evenly distributed PDMS/STA/SiO2-coated fabric in a facile dipping coating process using the ethyl acetate solution (EA) solution mixed with PDMS, STA and nano-SiO2, among which the PDMS served as a hydrophobic agent and an adhesive layer, the long alkyl chains from the STA provided low surface energy, and the nano-SiO2 offered nanoscale roughness
The new absorption peak at 2963 cm−1 belonged to the bending vibration of Si–CH3 and those at 1096 and 1019 cm−1 were related to the stretching vibration of Si–O–Si from PDMS [37], which appeared in the PDMS-coated fabric (Figure 1b)
Summary
Polyester fabrics can be extensively applied in daily life and industries by virtue of their advantages such as comfortableness, excellent elasticity, wrinkle resistance, and breathability [1,2,3]. Coating has enough durability to withstand at least 50 home laundering cycles and 500 abrasion cycles without losing its superhydrophobicity These studies have made some progress in the preparation of a stable superhydrophobic fabric surface, but most of these fabrication procedures are sophisticated and time-consuming, limiting practical application. The dip-coating method was adopted to prepare a durable polydimethylsiloxane/stearic acid/silica (PDMS/STA/SiO2) superhydrophobic fabric. Exhibiting resistance to a variety of liquids, good waterproof property, excellent self-cleaning performance, and ultraviolet (UV) resistance, the PDMS/STA/SiO2-coated fabric remained superhydrophobic with a WCA above 150◦ after 700 cycles of mechanical abrasion. That PDMS/STA/SiO2 coating had few influences on the color fastness of the fabric
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