Rational design of superhydrophobic, transparent hybrid coating with superior durability

Abstract As one of the essential components for electronic and optical devices, coating materials have been researched for many years due to the unique mechanical and optical properties. Preferably, the coating materials should be highly transparent, superhydrophobic (self-cleaning), mechanically robust, and durable so as to meet the requirements for practical applications. However, it remains a big challenge to improve the mechanical strength and durability of the coating without sacrificing its transparency and hydrophobicity through a facile and low-cost technology. Herein, an organic/inorganic hybrid coating consisting of self-designed resin with long-fluorine groups and hydrophobic silica nanoparticles was fabricated via a facile sol-gel/spin coating technology. The as-synthesized hybrid coating inherited the advantages of the self-designed resin (hardness and transparency) and hydrophobic nanoparticles (nano-structure) which displayed excellent superhydrophobicity (CA: 160.1 ± 1°, SA: 7 ± 1°, σ2: 0.862), outstanding mechanical property (CA was maintained at 140° after 200 tape peeling cycles), and high transparency (average of 93.6 %). Most importantly, the coating exhibits outstanding durability towards strong acid, UV light, water droplets, and heat, which can be crucial for its practical application especially in harsh conditions. This work describes a highly transparent, superhydrophobic (self-cleaning), mechanically robust, durable coating and promising applied in the industrials.