Abstract
Superhydrophobic materials have immense applications in the fields of industry and research. However, their durability is still a cause for concern. A facile method for preparing durable superhydrophobic films from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and the main-chain type polybenzoxazine precursors is reported herein. We used probe ultrasonicator to prepare CNT/polybenzoxazine coatings. Compared with the general sonicating dispersion process, the dispersion time was greatly reduced from a few hours to 5 minutes and the prepared suspension exhibited film-forming characteristics well. The CNT/polybenzoxazine films, which do not contain any fluorinated compounds, exhibit remarkable durability against thermal treatment, organic solvents, corrosive liquids, and sandpaper abrasion, while retaining their superhydrophobicity. Furthermore, these CNT/polybenzoxazine films also showed durable superhydrophobicity after ultraviolet (UV) irradiation for 100 h. This CNT/polybenzoxazine film can be readily used for practical applications to make durable superhydrophobic coatings.
Highlights
Superhydrophobicity is found in many organisms, for instance, leaves of lotus, leaves of rice, butterfly wings, water strider legs, and mosquito eyes [1,2,3,4]
Researchers have known that the superhydrophobic surface materials should coexist, based on the phenomenon observed in Polymers 2019, 11, 1183; doi:10.3390/polym11071183
Main-chain-type polybenzoxazines have emerged as intriguing materials
Summary
Superhydrophobicity is found in many organisms, for instance, leaves of lotus, leaves of rice, butterfly wings, water strider legs, and mosquito eyes [1,2,3,4]. The nature of the liquid repellency towards solid surface was determined by the topographical microstructure and surface chemical composition of both phases The surfaces possessing this property depict a high water contact angle (over 150◦ ) and a small sliding angle (below 10◦ ).According to the Wenzel model, the surface area of a hydrophobic solid was increased by surface roughness resulting in increased hydrophobicity [6]. Surfaces with high roughness usually have poor mechanical strength compared to a smooth surface Toaddress these issues, different methods have been suggested to enhance the durability of superhydrophobic materials [8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. The as-prepared superhydrophobic films possessed good film-forming characteristics and could pass the3H pencil hardness tests These films exhibit remarkable durability against thermal treatment, organic solvents, corrosive liquids, and sandpaper abrasion, while retaining their superhydrophobicity. These CNT/polybenzoxazine films showed durable superhydrophobicity after UV irradiation for 100 h
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