Hydrophobic Nano-Microcapsules Effectively Improve the Waterproof Performance of Coatings

Abstract

Due to the special surface wettability, self-cleaning, drag reduction, anti-icing and other properties, superhydrophobic materials are widely used as coating or coating additive on the surface of building materials, ships, and even for liquid transportation, biomedicine, etc., which have become one of the research hotspots in the direction of coating in recent years. However, the hydrophobic surface itself has weak stability and poor durability, which affects its application value. Therefore, in this study, PS nano-microcapsule was prepared by the multiphase emulsion method, and their particle size was measured by SEM electron microscopy to be about 350–550 nm, with a relatively uniform distribution. The hydrophobicity of PS nano-microcapsule modified with trimethoxy (1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-trifluoroctyl) silane (PFOTMS) at different molar ratios was investigated. SEM results showed that the surface roughness of the modified PFOTMS-PS nano-microcapsule could be changed. The contact angle proved that the greater the content of PFOTMS, the better the hydrophobicity of the modified PFOTMS-PS nano-microcapsule. When the content reached 50%, the hydrophobic performance was the best. As a coating, PFOTMS-PS nano-microcapsule has no specific requirement for the properties of the substrate material. It should be noted that the hydrophobicity of the coating did not change significantly after 30 days at room temperature. The above results indicated that PFOTMS-PS nano-microcapsule had good hydrophobicity and stability, and is expected to be used in many fields such as waterproof textiles and architectural coatings in the future.