Eco-friendly preparation of robust superhydrophobic Cu(OH)2 coating for self-cleaning, oil-water separation and oil sorption

Superhydrophobic surfaces have received so much attention in recent years and several approaches have been developed to prepare them. However, most current superhydrophobic surfaces are hard to be applied extensively due to some shortcomings such as mechanical weakness and complicated preparation process. In this paper, we present a facile and environmental way to prepare superhydrophobic coating by combining adhesives with lauric acid modified copper hydroxide powder. All the raw materials are commercially available and cheap and the entire process is very simple and eco-friendly, which make it probable for real application. The coated surfaces all show large contact angles and very small sliding angles with water droplets both in air and in oil, displaying super-water-repellency. Thus, the lauric acid modified Cu(OH)2 (LAMC) coating features special self-cleaning property even after the contamination of oil. With the help of adhesives, it is very stable to resist mechanical strikes. Additionally, the coated copper mesh can separate oil-water mixtures efficiently and quickly and the coated sponge can absorb oil spills selectively. We believe that such versatile, durable and environmental superhydrophobic coating is promising in various areas.