Fabrication of self-recovering superhydrophobic Cu-CNTs composite coatings via co-electrodeposition: Wettability transition is due to spontaneous adsorption of airborne hydrocarbons
Bin Cai, Zhenzhen Gui, Tao Guo, Zhixin Kang
Abstract
A simple method was proposed to prepare conductive and superhydrophobic copper‑carbon nanotubes (Cu-CNTs) composite coatings on ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers) substrate. In this work, we investigated the variation of wettability and chemical composition when the prepared coatings were stored in the air. The freshly prepared superhydrophilic Cu-CNTs composite coatings adsorbed the airborne hydrocarbons and switched to superhydrophobicity after being exposed in the air for two weeks. Meanwhile, the coatings prepared at 1 A dm−2 presented good superhydrophobicity (water contact angle ~158.4°, water roll-off angle ~5.3°) and conductivity (0.126 Ω sq.−1). The superhydrophobicity of the coatings was attributed to the lamellar micro-nano structures and the spontaneous adsorption of low free energy airborne hydrocarbons. What is more, the coatings showed good droplets impact stability, self-cleaning performance, and self-recovering ability to resist damage in practical applications.