A Facile Preparation of Transparent Ultrahydrophobic Glass via TiO ₂ /Octadecyltrichlorosilane (ODTS) Coatings for Self‐Cleaning Material

Abstract

Abstract A facile strategy was developed to fabricate transparent ultrahydrophobic glass. First, TiO 2 films were deposited uniformly on untreated glass substrate after heating aqueous peroxotitanate thin films at 120 °C for 1 h followed by octadecyltrichlorosilane (ODTS) modification. The as‐fabricated surfaces were then possessed ultrahydrophobic properties because of the combination of the rough surface topography of TiO 2 and low surface energy due to ODTS monolayer. It was found that the water contact angle and sliding angle of the as‐prepared coatings were about 146° and 7°, respectively. Besides, these coatings showed excellent self‐cleaning performance compared to untreated glass in order to remove dirt particles with water droplets. It is believed that the current method could lead as low‐cost and effective way to fabricate a very promising material for commercial and industrial coatings applications.