Transparent Superhydrophobic Coatings of Silica Nanoparticles Using Functionalized Polyurethanes

Superhydrophobic coatings are essential to prepare water-repellent surfaces, self-cleaning materials, etc. Silica nano-materials are often immobilized to different surfaces for imparting super-hydrophobicity. Direct coating of silica-nanoparticles is often challenging since it can easily be peeled off under different environments. Herein, we reported the use of properly functionalized polyurethanes to facilitate the strong binding of silica-nanoparticles to surfaces. The alkyne terminal polyurethane was synthesized by step-growth polymerization while click-reactions facilitated to post-functionalization using phenyl moiety and were characterized by ¹ H, ¹³ C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies, and ¹ H spin-lattice relaxation times (T₁ s). Upon functionalization, the glass transition temperature (Tg) increased due to enhanced interchain interactions. Moreover, additives like di(propyleneglycol)dibenzoate showed a substantial plasticizing effect to compensate for the increase in Tg, an important parameter for low-temperature applications. NMR signatures the spatial interactions between various protons of grafted silica-nanoparticles and phenyl triazole functionalized polyurethanes, thus indicating the usefulness of polyurethanes to bind silica-nanoparticles. After coating functionalized silica-nanoparticles to leather using functionalized polyurethanes, a contact angle value of more than 157° was observed with retention of grain patterns of leather due to transparency. We anticipate the results to help design varieties of materials with superhydrophobicity where the structural integrity of the surfaces is retained.