Colorful superhydrophobic materials with durability and chemical stability based on kaolin

Abstract

Inspired by the natural superhydrophobic surfaces with various colors such as the lotus leaves and the wings of butterflies, we report a one‐step method to fabricate superhydrophobic coatings by the combination of kaolin, acrylic color and organosiloxanes. The coatings were characterized using X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and other analytical techniques. Different from the previously reported method, kaolin particles were introduced to generate rough hierarchical structures on the coating surface, followed by acrylic color decoration and organosiloxanes modification. The colorful superhydrophobic coatings can be constructed in various substrates, such as glass slide, filter paper, and fabric. Furthermore, the obtained coating maintained excellent mechanical durability, chemical stability, and the high‐efficiency of oil–water separation. All of the colorful coatings showed superhydrophobicity in air, and they retained water repellency even after exposed to ultraviolet or under harsh conditions. The results also indicated that the as‐prepared coatings possessed outstanding fungi‐resistance. The colorful superhydrophobic fabric can be used to separate oil/water mixtures, and the separation efficiencies are as high as 95%. We envision that the colorful superhydrophobic coatings with durability and chemical stability may be useful in various fields, such as house decoration, paint coating, antimicrobial material and oil/water separation.