Ultrafast Fabrication of a Robust Superwetting Coating

Abstract

Superwetting surface has attracted extensive attention because of its wide potential applications. However, its application is still restricted by its complex fabrication, time-consuming preparation, high cost, and poor mechanical or chemical stability. Herein, it only took ∼14 min to fabricate a robust superwetting coating via a successively spraying and pressing process. The resulting coating exhibited excellent mechanical stability, good anticorrosion, and chemical durability by pressing various micro-/nanoparticles such as montmorillonite (MMT), sepiolite (SEP), or TiO2 nanoparticles into the epoxy-based coating. Besides the self-cleaning and wettability switch performance, the “E44 + TiO2” coating exhibited good separation performance for an oil–water mixture and emulsion. This strategy provides a simple and ultrafast route to fabricate a robust superwetting surface with multifunctions, which extend the range of the superwetting surface in practical applications.