Modification of Commercial Polymer Coatings for Superhydrophobic Applications

Superhydrophobic surfaces have been studied extensively over the past 25 years. However, many industries interested in the application of hydrophobic properties are yet to find a suitable solution to their needs. This paper looks at the rapid functionalization of nanoparticles and the fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces with contact angles > 170°. This was achieved by simply mixing commercial products and applying the new formulation with scalable techniques. First, inexpensive and nontoxic superhydrophobic nanoparticles were made by functionalizing nanoparticles with fatty acids in under an hour. A similar methodology was then used to functionalize a commercial polymer coating to express superhydrophobic properties on it by lowering the coating's surface energy. The coating was then applied to a surface by the spray technique to allow for the formation of hierarchical surface structures. By combining the low surface energy with the necessary roughness, the surface was able to express superhydrophobic properties. Both the particles and the surfaces then underwent characterization and functional testing, which, among other things, allowed for clear differentiation between the functionalization properties of the zinc oxide (ZnO) and the silica (SiO₂) nanoparticles. This paper shows that suitable superhydrophobic solutions may be found by simple additions to already optimized commercial products.