Investigation of Carbon Polymer Nanocomposite Superhydrophobic Coatings

Abstract

In recent years, wetting characteristic of a solid surface is significant factor to newlineprevent ice formation. In 1964, self-cleaning property inspired by the lotus effect. newlineRecently, much attention focused on the superhydrophobic surface due to their excellent newlinepotential and industrial applications. Thus, superhydrophobic surface shows some newlineexcellent not-wetting property. Although, superhydrophobic surfaces combining nanoscale newlineroughness have been shown to eliminate the ice accretions under different newlineconditions. In this paper, we have studied various coating techniques using Carbon- newlinePolymer superhydrophobic nanocomposite coatings. newlineIn a typical synthesis of selected compounds such as Carbon nanofibers (CNF), newlineMulti-walled Carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF), newlinePolytetrafluorethylene (PTFE), Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) to obtain hierarchical newlinenanostructures to reduce ice accumulation on Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) sheets newlineand galvanized steel (GS); these were followed by supercritical fluid (SCF) processing newlineand wet chemical methods. The prepared CNF/PTFE/PVDF, PTFE/MWCNT, newlineBN/MWCNT, SCF-MWCNT/CNF, and PM-MWCNT/CNF nanocomposite coatings newlinesurface showed selfand#8208;cleaning properties with a high water contact angle (WCA) of newline167.3°, 162.7°, 169.4°,171.6°, and 160°. The field emission scanning electron newlinemicroscope (FE-SEM), and atomic force microscope (AFM), images exposed the newlinemolecules in the composite coating make a good intimate contact with the substrate. newlineFourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and x-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed the newlineinterface between the composite and substrate. The prepared superhydrophobic newlinenanocomposite coatings showed excellent anti-icing properties, as indicated by the newlinesupercooled water droplet (-10 and -20 °C) test under environmental conditions. Also, newlinethe surface of the superhydrophobic nanocomposite coatings showed excellent newlineantifouling properties.