Fabrication of TiO2/PU Superhydrophobic Film by Nanoparticle Assisted Cast Micromolding Process

Lotus-like surfaces have attracted great attentions in recent years for their wide applications in water repellency, anti-fog and self-cleaning. This paper introduced a novel process, nanoparticle assisted cast micromolding, to create polymer film with superhydrophobic surface. Briefly, waterborne polyurethane (WPU) sol and nano TiO2/WPU sol were each cast onto the featured surfaces of the poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamps replicated from fresh lotus leaves. After being dried and peeled off from the stamps, PU and TiO2/WPU replica films were created respectively. To the former, only high hydrophobic property was observed with static water contact angle (WCA) at 142.5 degrees. While to the later, superhydrophobic property was obtained with WCA more than 150 degrees and slide angle less than 3 degrees. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging showed that the PU replica film only had the micro-papillas and the TiO2/PU replica film not only had micro papillas but also had a large number of nano structures distributed on and between the micro-papillas. Such nano and micro hierarchical structures were very similar with those on the natural lotus leaf surface, thus was the main reason for causing superhydrophobic property. Although an elastic PDMS stamp from lotus leaf was used in herein process, hard molds may also be used in theory. This study supplied an alternative technique for large scale production of polymeric films with superhydrophobic.