Judicious Design and Rapid Manufacturing of a Flexible, Mechanically Resistant Liquid‐Like Coating with Strong Bonding and Antifouling Abilities

Abstract

Fluorine‐free liquid‐repellent coatings have been highly demanded for a variety of applications. However, rapid formation of coatings possessing outstanding oil repellency and strong bonding ability as well as good mechanical strength (e.g., bendability, impact resistance, and scratch resistance) remains a grand challenge. Herein, a robust strategy to rapidly create fluorine‐free oil‐repellent coatings in only 30 s via rational design of a semi‐interpenetrating polymer network structure is reported. The resulting coating manifests strong bonding capability both in air and underwater. More importantly, it not only provides unprecedented oil repellency, even to high‐viscosity crude oil, but also achieves both excellent bendability and hardness. This simple yet effective design strategy opens up a new avenue to manufacture multifunctional materials and devices with desirable features and structural complexities for applications in sustainable antifouling, drag reduction, nondestructive transportation, liquid collection, and biomedicine, among other areas.

Super‐Slippery Poly(Dimethylsiloxane) Brush Surfaces: From Fabrication to Practical Application

“…[15a,21,23-26,28] For example, Rabnawaz et al prepared PDMS brush coatings by copolymerization of embedded PDMS-COCl chains and polyurethane substrates. [15a] By rationalizing the PDMS-OH semi-interpenetrating polymer network structure, Lai et al produced a flexible, mechanically resistant liquid-like coating with strong adhesive and antifouling capabilities in just 30 s. [29] Based on the copolymerization method, PDMS brush coatings can be fabricated on a wide variety of substrates including glass, paper, wood, metal, ceramics, and so on. Meanwhile, the fabrication method can be carried out through diverse routes such as dip coating, spraying, and spin coating, indicating that this strategy has a wide range of application.…”

Optimizing the Superhydrophobicity of the Composite PDMS/PUA Film Produced by a R2R System

“…In nature, there are many examples of superhydrophobic surfaces possessing this special self-cleaning property such as butterfly wings, shark skin, and lotus leaves. − It is revealed that this property of the lotus leaf or the “Lotus effect” results from the rough morphology and the hydrophobic epicuticular wax covering the entire surface leaf. − Inspired by this discovery, many researchers have mimicked the “Lotus effect” by designing and fabricating artificial superhydrophobic surfaces using the combination of micro/nano or hierarchical morphologies and low surface energy materials. − However, besides the elemental factors constituting the superhydrophobicity of a surface-like surface roughness and hydrophobic material coating, the superhydrophobic surface has to be transparent for applications requiring high optical transmittance like solar cell panel protection . Therefore, several strategies for fabricating flexible transparent superhydrophobic structures have been reported.…”

“…14−17 However, besides the elemental factors constituting the superhydrophobicity of a surface-like surface roughness and hydrophobic material coating, the superhydrophobic surface has to be transparent for applications requiring high optical transmittance like solar cell panel protection. 18 strategies for fabricating flexible transparent superhydrophobic structures have been reported. One strategy is to create micro, nano, or hybrid scaled textures on the intrinsic hydrophobic materials by soft lithography, 19 photolithography, 20 or chemical etching 21 technique.…”

Robust and Highly Transparent Photocurable Fluorinated Polyurethane Coating Prepared via Thiol-Click Reactions and What Essentially Influences Omniphobic Coating’s Anti-Graffiti Properties

“…Among published works, there are two kinds of omniphobic surfaces: slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPSs) and liquid-like complete solid surfaces. By immersing low-surface tension liquids into the porous materials, a liquid film forms on the surface and hence repels contaminating liquids. ,− However, low-surface-tension liquids are easily consumed during use, resulting in poor durability. Most of the reported complete solid omniphobic coatings used poly­(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-based chemicals to provide low surface tension. ,− Inspired by SLIPSs, silicone oil-like PDMS chains are enriched on the surface to build a liquid-like surface that prominently facilitates antifouling performance. ,,,− , The surface-enriched, flexible PDMS chains allow the liquid droplets to slide easily in a loose liquid-to-liquid contact, showing a low sliding angle.…”