Superhydrophobic Materials With Good Oil/Water Separation And Self-Cleaning Prepared Through A Environment-Friendly And Two-Component Method

Abstract

A novel, versatile, environment-friendly, and economical method was developed to fabricate functional superhydrophobic surfaces on various substrates, including wood, bamboo, cotton, filter paper, sponge, glass, textile, and copper. This method involves synthesizing a two-component modifier solution consisting of SiO2 nanoparticles combination with poly(methylhydrogen)siloxane (PMHS) modification. The superhydrophobicity of the coated surfaces was created by PMHS combined with SiO2 nanoparticles to construct a rough hierarchical structure on the substrate surface. As a result, all superhydrophobic surfaces were maintained under an indoor environment and relative humidity (RH) of 50% for 30 days. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic surfaces were also maintained at environmental conditions of minus 20℃ for 24 hours. It was also confirmed that these surfaces exhibited excellent self-cleaning, oil/water separation, and elimination of underwater oil properties. The method for fabricating superhydrophobic materials proposed in this study will have great application potential in preparing large-scale superhydrophobic surfaces for use in ancient building protection.