Facile fabrication of robust superhydrophobic epoxy film with polyamine dispersed carbon nanotubes

Nanocomposite films of superhydrophobic surface are fabricated from the dispersion of unmodified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and hydrophobic poly(isobutylene)-amine (PIB-amine). The PIB-amine prepared from the amidation of poly(isobutylene)-succinic anhydride and poly(oxypropylene)-amines is essential for dispersing the originally entangled CNTs into the debundled CNTs as observed by TEM. A robust CNTs/epoxy nanocomposite film with high dimensional stability is made by subsequent curing with epoxy resin. The self-standing film exhibits a superhydrophobic property, with water droplet contact angle > 152° due to the CNTs controlled alignment on the surface forming micrometer-size plateaus, as observed by SEM. The preparation of PIB-amine/CNTs dispersion and subsequently curing into a superhydrophobic CNTs/epoxy film is relatively simple and can potentially be applied to large surface coating.