Fabrication of ultra-smooth hybrid thin coatings towards robust, highly transparent, liquid-repellent and antismudge coatings

Abstract

Liquid-repellent and anti-smudge coatings have a wide range of applications on the surface of materials. In this work, a novel liquid-repellent anti-smudge hybrid coating was in situ fabricated by using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and dimethoxydimethylsilane (DMDEOS) under acid catalysis. The resulting coatings had a high transmittance of 3-4% higher than that of blank glass. The superior smoothness and high mobility of generated poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) chains on the surface resulted in low sliding angles of 4.5° (water) and 2.8° (n-hexadecane), and a high water sliding velocity of 15.6 cm s^-1 at a tilting angle of 70°. In addition, the hybrid coatings could repel both ink and dust contaminations and hinder bacteria adhesion. What's more, the anti-smudge coatings demonstrated excellent durability and mechanical properties of 8H pencil hardness and 5A adhesion grade. Thus, a new perspective is provided for the preparation of anti-smudge coatings. The simple preparation method would bring a breakthrough in the development and application of anti-smudge materials.

Keywords: Anti-smudge; Bacterial anti-adhesion; High transparency; Mechanical robustness; Ultra-smooth.