Designing Non-Fluorinated Superhydrophobic Fabrics with Durable Stability and Photocatalytic Functionality

The ability of a superhydrophobic fabric to stay dry and clean has aroused great interest in daily life. Especially, the development of an eco-friendly non-fluorinated water-repellent textile has become a hot topic in recent years. We present a green strategy to achieve self-cleaning textile by in situ deposition of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles on cotton with subsequent polydimethylsiloxane modification. The prepared cotton fabric exhibits superior water repellency with a water contact angle of 157°. Meanwhile, this superhydrophobic surface can easily be ruined by oil contaminants and then exhibit a decreased water contact angle of 0°. However, the oil-contaminated surface can recover its water repellency after being irradiated. After six cycles of contamination using oleic acid and successive photodegradation, the fabric surface remains superhydrophobic. The obtained superhydrophobic surface does not adversely affect the fabric's strength and air permeability. Therefore, the developed superhydrophobic cotton fabrics have the potential to be used in a variety of industrial scenarios and in daily life.