title: Ultra Water Repellent Polypropylene Surfaces with Tunable Water Adhesion.
abstract: Polypropylene (PP), including isotactic PP (i-PP) and atactic PP (a-PP) with distinct tacticity, is one of the most widely used general plastics. Herein, ultra water repellent PP coatings with tunable adhesion to water were prepared via a simple casting method. The pure i-PP coating shows a hierarchical morphology with micro/nanobinary structures, exhibiting a water contact angle (CA) larger than 150° and a sliding angle less than 5° (for 5 μL water droplet). In contrast, the pure a-PP coating has a less rough morphology with a water contact angle of about 130°, and the water droplets stick on the coating at any tilted angles. For the composite i-PP/a-PP coatings, however, ultra water repellency with CA > 150° but water adhesion tailorable from slippery to sticky can be realized, depending on the contents of a-PP and i-PP. The different wetting behaviors are due to the various microstructures of the composite coatings resulting from the distinct crystallization ability of a-PP and i-PP. Furthermore, the existence of a-PP in the composite coatings enhances the mechanical properties compared to the i-PP coating. The proposed method is feasible to modify various substrates and potential applications in no-loss liquid transportation, slippery surfaces, and patterned superhydrophobic surfaces are demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3569-3850
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: adhesion; crystallization; microstructure; polypropylene; water repellent