A facile method for preparation superhydrophobic paper with enhanced physical strength and moisture-proofing property

We proposed a green and facile method to fabricate superhydrophobic paper in this study, which is layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition of TiO₂ nanoparticles/sodium alginate (ALG) multilayers on paper surface followed by an adsorption treatment of colloidal carnauba wax. The formation of TiO₂/ALG multilayers on paper surface was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), zeta potential measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. The wetting property of modified paper was investigated by water contact angle (WCA) measurement. Moreover, the modified paper tensile strength has been evaluated. The results showed that WCA of paper modified with a wax-treated (TiO₂/ALG)_3.5 multilayer reached up to 151.5°, and this obtained superhydrophobic paper exhibited improved tensile strength (increased by 4.1% compared to the pristine paper), excellent moisture-proofing property and high strength stability under high relative humidity condition, which might has a great potential for use in the liquid paper packaging and moisture-proof paper packaging.