Fabrication of durable and cost effective superhydrophobic cotton textiles via simple one step process

Superhydrophobic surfaces are highly hydrophobic, i.e., extremely difficult to wet. Such surfaces have water contact angle (WCA) exceeds 150° and water sliding angle (WSA) < 10°. This is known as “the superhydrophobic effect” or “the Lotus effect”. Superhydrophobic cotton fabric was prepared via a novel one step solution immersion process using silica nanoparticles and hexadecyltrimethoxysilane. The method is simple, cost-effective and can be applied on the large industrial scale. Improvement of treatment durability was attained by the incorporation of silane coupling agents. A new substance, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), was used for the first time in this study to improve the durability of the prepared superhydrophobic fabric and its performance was compared with that of silane coupling gents. The surface morphology and hydrophobic properties of the prepared superhydrophobic cotton fabrics were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The wettability of the developed superhydrophobic cotton fabrics was evaluated by WCA and WSA measurements. The modified cotton fabrics exhibited superhydrophobicity with WCA of 159.8° and WSA of 4.0°. Furthermore, the durability efficiency of samples was quantitatively evaluated using standard washing test. Results showed that both silane coupling agents and EDTA could greatly enhanced washing durability. EDTA provided higher stability than silane coupling agents with repetitive washing cycles which considers very promising alternative to improve the durability of the superhydrophobic cotton textiles.