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Self-cleaning material based on superhydrophobic coatings through an environmentally friendly sol–gel method

  • Original Paper: Sol–gel and hybrid materials with surface modification for applications
  • Published:
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Abstract

Recently, there has been increasing interest in developing artificial superhydrophobic surfaces, especially in the field of self-cleaning application. However, the poor robustness and high-cost preparation of these surfaces have always been some issues for their industrial development. Herein, we describe an environmentally friendly way to prepare stable, robust, and transparent superhydrophobic coatings through the deposition of a rough substructure of TiO2 film followed by chemical modification using octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS), a fluorine-free organic silane. The as-prepared coatings exhibited a great superhydrophobic property and ultralow adhesion (with a static water contact angle of 158 ± 2° and sliding angle of 4 ± 1°). It was found that the superhydrophobic coatings can still maintain good performance after UV irradiation, chemical immersion, and physical abrasion. More importantly, the coated surfaces showed an excellent self-cleaning ability against dirt particles after rinsed with water droplets.

Highlights

  • Environmentally friendly and low-cost method to prepare superhydrophobic coatings using TiO2 thin film and monolayer octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS).

  • High transparency of the as-prepared superhydrophobic coatings.

  • The superhydrophobic coatings exhibited good chemical and mechanical stability.

  • The surface of superhydrophobic glass showed an excellent self-cleaning property.

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Acknowledgements

Authors gratefully acknowledge Universitas Andalas for financial support (contract number: T/58/UN.16.17/PP.IS.KRP2GB/LPPM/2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Material Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Andalas, Padang, 25163, Indonesia

    Nurul Pratiwi,  Zulhadjri, Syukri Arief,  Admi & Diana Vanda Wellia

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Correspondence to Diana Vanda Wellia.

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Pratiwi, N., Zulhadjri, Arief, S. et al. Self-cleaning material based on superhydrophobic coatings through an environmentally friendly sol–gel method. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 96, 669–678 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05389-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05389-7

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