Superhydrophobic surface modified by sol-gel silica nanoparticle coating

Abstract

We reported a superhydrophobic silica-coated surface with a water contact angle of 160° with a 4 μL water droplet, and transparency of 70-86% in the wavelength range of 380-800 nm. The silica film was synthesized at room temperature (22 °C) using sol-gel process by a simple, cost-effective and uniform spin-coating by mixing silicon dioxide sol-gel with γ-(2, 3-epoxypropyloxy) propyltrimethoxysilane (KH-560). The durability of the coating could be effectively enhanced by controlling the ratio of KH-560 and modified silicon dioxide sol-gel. It was believed that this process that we used can hold a great potential in super-hydrophobic surface fabrication.