A superhydrophobic EP/PDMS nanocomposite coating with high gamma radiation stability

The superhydrophobic coatings with high gamma radiation stability were prepared by using epoxy/polydimethylsiloxane (EP/PDMS) resins as the matrix and silica nanoparticles as the fillers. The nanocomposite coatings exhibit superhydrophobicity with a high water contact angle (WCA) of 154° and a low sliding angle of 7°. With the amount of SiO2 increasing from 0 to 30%, the surface shows the hierarchically structure gradually and its roughness raised from 4 nm to 278 nm. And little change in the WCA of the coatings (from 155° to 149°) was observed when the pH of the droplets varied from 2 to 14. In addition, the coatings also show good adhesion grade (5B), high hardness (6H) and outstanding stability for high dose gamma radiation.