Sepiolite-based superamphiphobic coating with excellent robustness, chemical stability and self-cleaning performance

Abstract

In recent years, the fabrication of multifunctional superamphiphobic materials has received increasingly attention. In the present study, a kind of superamphiphobic coating with low-cost, good robustness, chemical stability and self-cleaning property was prepared through spraying epoxy resin (EP) and natural sepiolite (SEP) modified by fluorinated polysiloxane (FPOS). The proposed coating (SEP@FPOS/EP) exhibited excellent superamphiphobicity to water, ordinary liquid and oil, even sunflower oil with a surface energy as low as 27 mN m−1. Moreover, due to the addition of EP, the coating still maintained good superamphiphobicity even after being impacted by 100 g sand. This suggested that it had excellent mechanical stability. Besides, the SEP@FPOS/EP coating showed good repellent to aqueous solution with pH values from 1 to 13, salty solution as well as water droplets at different temperatures. Moreover, the SEP@FPOS/EP coating could keep excellent superamphiphobicity under UV light or after being placed in an environment of −10 °C. More importantly, the SEP@FPOS/EP coating had low adhesion to water, oil and dirty, indicating it owned superior self-cleaning property. All these outstanding performances and the facile fabrication method confirmed that SEP@FPOS/EP superamphiphobic coating could be used in various fields and large-scale production.