Mimic nature, beyond nature: facile synthesis of durable superhydrophobic textiles using organosilanes

Low mechanical stability of superhydrophobic surfaces is the bottle neck we are facing for their practical applications. Here we report facile fabrication of durable superhydrophobic textiles by dip coating in a nanocomposite solution of fluoro-free organosilanes. The kind of organosilane, molar ratio of organosilane in the precursor and water concentration as well as the dip coating parameters (e.g., concentration of nanocomposite, ultrasonication and curing time) have great influences on the superhydrophobicity and abrasion stability of the coated textiles. The superhydrophobic textiles show excellent mechanical, chemical and environmental stability under the optimal conditions. No obvious changes in contact angle can be seen during various stability tests. Water drops stay nearly spherical in shape on the samples and could easily roll off the samples after various stability tests. In addition, the slightly reduced superhydrophobicity can be easily repaired by dip coating again in the same nanocomposite solution. Moreover, this simple approach can be easily applied to various substrates and scaled up. The excellent stability of the superhydrophobic textiles and the simple dip coating procedure pave the way for their practical applications in various fields such as oil/water separation.