Antiwetting
Fabric Produced by a Combination of Layer-by-Layer
Assembly and Electrophoretic
Deposition of Hydrophobic Nanoparticles
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Abstract
This
work describes a nanoparticle coating method to produce durable
antiwetting polyester fabric. Electrophoretic deposition is used for
fast modification of polyester fabric with silica nanoparticles embedded
in polymeric networks for high durability coatings. Typically, electrophoretic
deposition (EPD) is utilized on electrically conductive substrates
due to its dependence on an applied electrical field. EPD on nonconductive
materials has been attempted but are limited by weak adhesion, cracks,
and other irregularities. To resolve these issues, we coat polyester
fabric with thin polymer layers using electrostatic self-assembly
(layer-by-layer self-assembly). Next, silica nanoparticles are uniformly
dispersed on the polymer layers. Finally, polymerically stabilized
silica nanoparticles are deposited by EPD on the fabric, followed
by heat treatment. The modified fabric shows high static contact angle
and low contact angle hysteresis, while keeping its original color,
flexibility, and air permeability. During a skin fiction resistance
test, the hydrophobicity of the coating layer was maintained over
500 h. Furthermore, we also show that this approach facilitates patterned
regions of wettability by modifying the electric field in EPD