Fabrication of surface-functionalized PUA composites to achieve superhydrophobicity

Abstract

Herein, we present a facile fabrication method to prepare the optically transparent, flexible and self-cleanable poly(urethane acrylate) (PUA) superhydrophobic film. The low surface energy siloxane functionalization on the thermally activated µ-patterned PUA/graphene oxide composite (S-PG) was found to be a successful strategy to modify the PUA intrinsic hydrophilicity into superhydrophobic nature. The S-PG film (with GO content of 0.1 wt%) repeatedly showed the water contact angle (WCA) of 149.82 ± 1° with excellent self-cleaning property. Further, the fabricated film exhibited high optical transparency (80%) in the 400-800 nm wavelength region. Finally, the practical applicability of the fabricated S-PG film was demonstrated by using the film as a protective layer for solar panel module. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar module with and without S-PG superhydrophobic film was found to be 5.98% and 5.82%, respectively. The enhancement in the PCE performance of the solar module is attributed to the excellent optical transparent and less light reflecting nature of the proposed film. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Publisher's NoteSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Biomimetic Rose Petal Structures Obtained Using UV-Nanoimprint Lithography

“…This should explain why PUA with a positive replica of rose petal structures displays enhanced hydrophobic behavior compared to neat PUA and PUA with a negative replica of rose petal structures. Similar results are reported in the literature, where an inherently hydrophilic material is shown to display superhydrophobic behavior [33]. It is argued that structured hydrophilic material can display superhydrophobic behavior when water droplet sits at least partially on top of air [33].…”

Nanopatterning on Mixed Halide Perovskites for Promoting Photocurrent Generation of Flexible Photodetector

“…For surface treatment, the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method was utilized following a previous report. [ 31 ] The contact angle measurement clearly shows the hydrophobicity of PUA after surface treatment. (Figure S1a,b, Supporting Information) Without the surface treatment of PUA, it is difficult to fabricate defect‐free NP‐FAMA films due to the affinity between PUA and the precrystallized FAMA film.…”

Siloxane resins as hydrophobic self-cleaning layers for silicon and dye-sensitized solar cells: material and application aspects

“…In the literature, polysiloxanes in the context of solar cell protection are used mainly as hydrophobizing and coupling agents in complex solutions [31][32][33] or as passivating layers to reduce the charge carrier recombination in silicon-PEDOT:PSS (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)). 34 To the best of our knowledge, no reports have been published on the use of polysiloxane as the sole component of the hydrophobic layer for solar cells.…”