Preparation of Transparent Sandwich-like Superhydrophobic Coating on Glass with High Stability and Self-Cleaning Properties

Qiang Li,Hongming Liang,Jinlong Song,Jinbao Tang,Chenguang Guo

doi:10.3390/coatings12020228

Qiang Li, Hongming Liang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12020228

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Abstract

High stability and transparent superhydrophobic coating on a glass substrate that can effectively repel the wetting dust as a self-cleaning property are beneficial traits for solving the decrease in optical lens clarity in an unmanned underground mining environment. However, the transparent superhydrophobic coating has still not been applied due to the contradiction between visibility, hydrophobicity and durability. Herein, a sandwich-like superhydrophobic coating was designed and prepared on borosilicate glass, which consisted of a micro/nanostructure body of neutral silicone sealant (primer) and hydrophobic silica nanoparticles (interlayer), as well as a protective layer of ultraviolet (UV) gel. The coated glass exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity towards many aqueous solutions, and had highly visible light transparency of 80% at 4 wt.% primer mass content. Furthermore, significant tests including the droplet impact, hot water boiling, stirring in acetic acid aqueous solution and sandpaper abrasion were performed on our superhydrophobic coating, which indicated that the obtained transparent coating had good stability and excellent mechanical durability. The coated glass also showed a more wonderful self-cleaning property compared with that of the original glass. This superhydrophobic coating on glass substrate, fabricated by a facile and cost-effective layer-by-layer construction approach, has great potential for general and practical application in the unmanned mining environment under multiple dust and atomized water conditions.

Highlights

A dangerous amount of dust is always generated around the coal mining and anchor drilling face, which may lead to gas explosion and even seriously threaten production and safety [1,2,3]
If further endowed with mechanical robustness, antireflection and transparency, the glass lens with superhydrophobicity may display good self-cleaning and high-resolution monitoring under harsh atomization conditions, which would be beneficial for promoting the rapid development of intelligent mining technology
With the increase in primer content from 2 wt.% to 3 wt.%, superhydrophobicity was achieved; the water droplet pinning effect disappeared; the contact angles (CAs) was significantly improved from 149.6◦ to 161.1◦; and the sliding angles (SAs) decreased from 43◦ to 3◦

Summary

Introduction

A dangerous amount of dust is always generated around the coal mining and anchor drilling face, which may lead to gas explosion and even seriously threaten production and safety [1,2,3]. Inspired by the lotus leaf [6,7], artificial superhydrophobic surfaces with static contact angles (CAs) above 150◦ and sliding angles (SAs) below 10◦ have been successfully fabricated by various methods in recent years [8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. These functional surfaces have been proven to possess a self-cleaning property, demonstrating its potential application in coal production. If further endowed with mechanical robustness, antireflection and transparency, the glass lens with superhydrophobicity may display good self-cleaning and high-resolution monitoring under harsh atomization conditions, which would be beneficial for promoting the rapid development of intelligent mining technology

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Conclusion