Abstract
Mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) chemistry and electroless deposition approaches were used to prepare stable superhydrophobic coatings on wood surfaces. The as-formed PDA coating on a wood surface exhibited a hierarchical micro/nano roughness structure, and functioned as an “adhesive layer” between the substrate and a metallic film by the metal chelating ability of the catechol moieties on PDA, allowing for the formation of a well-developed micro/nanostructure hierarchical roughness. Additionally, the coating acted as a stable bridge between the substrate and hydrophobic groups. The morphology and chemical components of the prepared superhydrophobic wood surfaces were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The PDA and octadecylamine (OA) modified surface showed excellent superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle (CA) of about 153° and a rolling angle (RA) of about 9°. The CA further increased to about 157° and RA reduced to about 5° with the Cu metallization. The superhydrophobic material exhibited outstanding stability in harsh conditions including ultraviolet aging, ultrasonic washing, strong acid-base and organic solvent immersion, and high-temperature water boiling. The results suggested that the PDA/OA layers were good enough to confer robust, degradation-resistant superhydrophobicity on wood substrates. The Cu metallization was likely unnecessary to provide significant improvements in superhydrophobic property. However, due to the amazing adhesive capacity of PDA, the electroless deposition technique may allow for a wide range of potential applications in biomimetic materials.
Highlights
Superhydrophobic surfaces have recently attracted significant attention in both scientific and industrial sectors for potential applications in nonwetting, self-cleaning, anti-fogging, anti-icing, anti-corrosion, oil-water separation, and drag-reduction [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
As shown in the Wang and co-workers study [26], the surfaces of PDA coatings became rougher since the PDA particles grew faster and formed bigger nodules when increasing the reaction temperature to accelerate the reaction
The dopamine self-polymerization reaction was conducted at 60 ◦ C, which formed a micro/nano hierarchical roughness structure on wood surface, and further modified by grafting long-chain alkyls, resulting in a stable superhydrophobicity
Summary
Superhydrophobic surfaces have recently attracted significant attention in both scientific and industrial sectors for potential applications in nonwetting, self-cleaning, anti-fogging, anti-icing, anti-corrosion, oil-water separation, and drag-reduction [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Artificial superhydrophobic surfaces have been broadly designed and constructed by learning from examples in nature, such as lotus leaves with superhydrophobicity. As an environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing biopolymer material, is widely used in the daily lives of humans for various applications, such as construction, furniture, and indoor decoration. The addition of superhydrophobic surfaces on a wood substrate has great potential to address these problems and extend the service life of the resulting products [10]
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