Tailoring the wettability of polypropylene surfaces with halloysite nanotubes

In this contribution, halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), a kind of natural hydrophilic nanoclay, are incorporated into polypropylene (PP) for tailoring the surface microstructures of the composites prepared by solution casting. HNTs act as heterogeneous nuclei for PP, which leads to the change of phase separation process during drying of the composites and consequently the microstructures of composite surfaces. Micro-papilla like hybrid spherulites with nanostructures are formed on the PP/HNTs composite surfaces. The rough surfaces demonstrate superhydrophobicity with a maximum water contact angle as nearly 170 degrees and sliding angle of about 2 degrees. The spherulites size, surface roughness, and wetting property of PP can be tuned by HNTs. HNTs can significantly improve the thermal degradation behavior of the composites which is attributed to the well-dispersed HNTs and the improved interfacial interactions by the nucleation effect. The present work provides an alternative routine for preparing polymer superhydrophobic surfaces via tailoring the surface microstructures by adding nanoparticles in a solution process.