Fabrication and Performances of MTMS/TMCS Bilayer Transparent Superhydrophobic Silica Coating

Abstract

—The superhydrophobic silica coating has a great performance of self-cleaning which can be applied in the field of energy saving, anti-icing, drag reduction, etc. In this paper, Trimethyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) /Trimethylchlorosilan (TMCS) superhydrophobic silica coating with two-layer structure was dip-coated. Atomic force microscope (AFM) images show that the surface morphology of MTMS/TMCS silica coating was in micro and nano level, and Sa value was 231nm, which could achieve good superhydrophobic performance. MTMS/TMCS silica coating has better superhydrophobic performance than MTMS silica coating. The largest contact angle (CA) of MTMS/TMCS silica coating could reach 155.2°, the sliding angle was less than 10°. The MTMS/TMCS silica coating also has good performance of transmittance in the range of visible light and self-cleaning, the transmittance rate could reach more than 95%. All good performances of the MTMS/TMCS silica coating are from its micro and nano surface structure. Modification of TMCS solution would generate a more stable functional group. Keywords-superhydrophobic, self-cleaning, dip-coated, trimethylchlorosilane, micro and nano structure