Preparation of Wear-Resistant Superhydrophobic Coatings Based on a Discrete-Phase Adhesive

Abstract

Among the many methods to prepare superhydrophobic coatings, the liquid spraying method has the advantages of simple operation, low equipment and substrate requirements, and a low cost to achieve large-scale industrialization. However, superhydrophobic coatings prepared using the existing one-step and two-step spraying methods are not wear resistant, and the failure mechanism is also not clear. After preparing coatings using existing methods and conducting wear tests, we show that the reason for their lack of wear resistance is the excessive bonding caused by the nanoparticles embedded in the continuous-phase adhesive, or the low bonding caused by adhesion to the adhesive surface. Based on the above conclusion, we propose a method to transform a continuous-phase adhesive into a discrete-phase adhesive via phase separation, after which it is mixed with nanoparticles for spraying. This new method allows the nanoparticles to bond to the adhesive while avoiding embedding, which avoids the shortcomings of existing methods. Consequently, coatings fabricated using the new method have better wear resistance properties and important significance for practical applications.