Fabrication And Properties Of Transparent And Superhydrophobic Materials

At present, along with the deep understanding of superhydrophobic coating, the requirement of the function and application are imposed, the trend of the preparation of superhydrophobic surface with unique properties are irreversible, especially transparent and superhydrophobic surfaces. High transparency is important to the performance of optical equipment and devices, such as windows, lenses, solar panels, and safety goggles. As most of them are constantly exposed to various environmental conditions, it is highly desirable to develop a self-cleaning coating that can prevent microbial growth, fouling, corrosion and icing, to make sure the transparency of the surfaces. One of these technologies is superhydrophobic coating. The transparent and superhydrophobic film has attracted more and more attention in industry and life because of its characteristic superhydrophobicity and great transmittance of the visible light.Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the most promising conducting polymers because of easy preparation, low cost, unique properties which can be easily controlled by oxidation and protonation, excellent environment stability. PANI is generally prepared by chemical oxidative plolymerization or electrochemical polymerization, with ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS) as oxidation, and sulfuric acid (H2SO4), perchloric acid (HClO4) as doping acid. In addition, the conducting of PANI is tailored by simple non-redox acid/base doping/dedoping process. In addition, the APNI are readily deposited on a variety of substrates, including conducting substrates (polystyrene, filter papers, etc.) and non-conducting substrates (Si wafers, ITO and so on). In combination of the above excellent properties, the polyaniline with special morphology, is modified with the low surface energy materials, showing superhydrophobicity and other properties such as stability, conductivity, etc.In this article, the recent process of the wide range of methods is covered. The thesis presents primary researches that extend superhydrophobic surfaces to engineering materials are based on a variety of natural superhydrophobic organism and the potential applications such as sensors, lenses, etc. The main contents and conclusions show as follows:(1) The fabrication of conductive transparent and superhydrophobic films:the aligned polyaniline (PANI) forest firstly grows on the surfaces of polystyrene (PS) with ethanol and deionized water treated by diluted chemical polymerization method, and then copper oxide (CuO) nano-particles were deposited on the PANI surfaces by chemical vapor deposition. Finally, the PANI/CuO composite materials were modified with low surface energy-fluoride thiol, showing transparency and superhydrophobicity with the aid of polyaniline for the first time.(2) The preparation of transparent anti-fingerprint and superhydrophobic surface:the align polyaniline (PANI) forest firstly grows on the surfaces of the stainless steels with ethanol and deionized water treated by diluted chemical polymerization method, followed by modification with1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecane thiol to lower surface energy. The corresponding properties of as-prepared coating were examined, e. g. superhydrophobicity, anti-fingerprint, droplets impact, and stability after supersonic treatment.