Fluorine-free superhydrophobic coatings based on silicone and functionalized colloidal silica

Abstract

Recently, fluorine materials have been a serious cause of environmental concern. In response, a novel fluorine-free superhydrophobic coating is presented in this paper. A superhydrophobic coating based on silicone and surface-modified colloidal silica is explored and exploited. First, a superhydrophobic coating, based on silicone resins and fluorine group-modified colloidal silica, is developed. Then, the fluorine group-modified colloidal silica is replaced by octyl-modified colloidal silica, a superhydrophobic coating based on fluorine-free materials, octyl-functionalized colloidal silica, and epoxy-modified silicone. The hydrophobicity and coating integrity were investigated, and the fluorine-free coating shows good superhydrophobicity and coating integrity. The result demonstrates the feasibility of a fluorine-free superhydrophobic coating, thus providing an effective solution to the environmental problems caused by fluorine chemicals.