Durable microstructure-based superhydrophobic composite with photothermal performance for multifunctional application

Nowadays, multifunctional superhydrophobic coating has drawn widespread attention by virtue of its great water-repellent property, whereas the fragile mechanical and chemical durability of superhydrophobic coating greatly limits its practical application. Herein, a robust and multifunctional superhydrophobic composite coating (CFRE-SP@Fe₃O₄) with anti-corrosion, delay-icing and self-deicing performance is constructed via simple imprinting-demolding process on the carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin (CFRE) surface and post-deposition modification with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and epoxy resin modified Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. The obtained CFRE-SP@Fe₃O₄ coating displays a superhydrophobic property with a WCA of 155° ± 1.2°. By virtue of the protection effect of the robust micro-grid structures for the inner superhydrophobic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (SP@Fe₃O₄), the CFRE-SP@Fe₃O₄ coating still maintains great superhydrophobicity after linear friction for 100 times. Additionally, compared with the carbon steel treated with CFRE, the impedance modulus at lowest frequency of CFRE-SP@Fe₃O₄ coating treated group further increase with a value of 10⁷ Ω·cm², confirming the excellent anti-corrosion performance. Owing to the air pocket captured by the micro-/nanostructure on the superhydrophobic surface, the icing time of the CFRE-SP@Fe₃O₄ surfaces extends from 60 s to 2130 s. Moreover, combined with the photothermal conversion performance of carbon fiber and Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, the ice on the CFRE and CFRE-SP@Fe₃O₄ coatings surfaces begin to melt 137 s, displaying the excellent self-deicing performance.