Robust superhydrophobic tungsten oxide coatings with photochromism and UV durability properties

Robust superhydrophobic tungsten oxide (TO) coatings with a water contact angle (WCA) of 155° were developed for photochromism via a facile and substrate-independent route. Importantly, after scatch test on both a single and two orthogonal direction, the TO coating still exhibited superhydrophobic behavior, indicating excellent mechanical robustness. It is worth mentioning that the superhydrophobic TO coatings showed the reversible convert of photochromism of WO3 induced by alternating UV and visible light irradiation. Besides that, the TO coating remained superhydrophobicity after UV irradiation for 36 h, showing excellent UV durability. In addition, the coating showed good resistance to acidic droplets. Moreover, it can also be applied on other substrates, such as copper mesh, steel, paper and fiber. The coating exhibited excellent self-cleaning behavior due to its high WCA and low rolling angle. Overall, this work is a promising approach to design and produce functional superhydrophobic coatings for various substrates.