An expanding horizon: Facile fabrication of highly superhydrophobic coatings

This work firstly utilizes electrophoretic deposition (EPD) followed by perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (FAS-17) modification as a novel and facile method to fabricate superhydrophobic ZnO and Bi2O3 coatings with great potential application. The stable suspension consists of isopropyl alcohol and polyethyleneimine (PEI). The FESEM investigations show that the resulting two superhydrophobic oxide coatings with reticular-like structures uniformly distribute in nanoscale. The wettability results demonstrate that the water contact angle of all samples can reach to ca. 167 degrees and remain almost unchange after exposure for nine weeks, resulting into an excellent stable superhydrophobicity. Most importantly, this paper provides an effective and low-cost strategy to fabricate to other functional superhydrophobic coatings for various applications.