title: Highly Stretchable Superhydrophobic Composite Coating Based on Self-Adaptive Deformation of Hierarchical Structures.
abstract: With the rapid development of stretchable electronics, functional textiles, and flexible sensors, water-proof protection materials are required to be built on various highly flexible substrates. However, maintaining the antiwetting of superhydrophobic surface under stretching is still a big challenge since the hierarchical structures at hybridized micro-nanoscales are easily damaged following large deformation of the substrates. This study reports a highly stretchable and mechanically stable superhydrophobic surface prepared by a facile spray coating of carbon black/polybutadiene elastomeric composite on a rubber substrate followed by thermal curing. The resulting composite coating can maintain its superhydrophobic property (water contact angle ≈170° and sliding angle <4°) at an extremely large stretching strain of up to 1000% and can withstand 1000 stretching-releasing cycles without losing its superhydrophobic property. Furthermore, the experimental observation and modeling analysis reveal that the stable superhydrophobic properties of the composite coating are attributed to the unique self-adaptive deformation ability of 3D hierarchical roughness of the composite coating, which delays the Cassie-Wenzel transition of surface wetting. In addition, it is first observed that the damaged coating can automatically recover its superhydrophobicity via a simple stretching treatment without incorporating additional hydrophobic materials.
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Green Energy and Green Manufacturing Technology R&D Center, Chengdu Development Center of Science and Technology, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Chengdu, 610200, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Green Energy and Green Manufacturing Technology R&D Center, Chengdu Development Center of Science and Technology, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Chengdu, 610200, China.
authors.forename: Changyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Green Energy and Green Manufacturing Technology R&D Center, Chengdu Development Center of Science and Technology, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Chengdu, 610200, China.
authors.forename: Zhoukun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Green Energy and Green Manufacturing Technology R&D Center, Chengdu Development Center of Science and Technology, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Chengdu, 610200, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Green Energy and Green Manufacturing Technology R&D Center, Chengdu Development Center of Science and Technology, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Chengdu, 610200, China.
authors.forename: Keqin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Green Energy and Green Manufacturing Technology R&D Center, Chengdu Development Center of Science and Technology, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Chengdu, 610200, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Green Energy and Green Manufacturing Technology R&D Center, Chengdu Development Center of Science and Technology, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Chengdu, 610200, China.
authors.forename: Woon-Ming
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Lau
keywords: composite coatings; hierarchical structures; self-adaptive; stretchable; superhydrophobic