Thermal stable superhydrophobic polyphenylsilsesquioxane/nanosilica composite coatings

The superhydrophobic polyphenylsilsesquioxane (PPSQ)/nanosilica composite coatings were prepared by spray coating method with nano fumed silica (NFS) particles embedded in PPSQ matrix. The water contact angle (WCA) increased from 92.9° to 152.5° and the sliding angle (SA) decreased from more than 60° to 3.9° as the NFS content increased. The superhydrophobicity retained up to 500 °C, sustained by the hierarchical micro–nano structures and excellent thermal stability of PPSQ. A superhydrophobic PPSQ coating with WCA of 152.6° and SA of 7.8° was obtained by solvent–nonsolvent method for comparison as well. However, it gradually lost superhydrophobicity at 200 °C because of the elimination of nanostructures by the thermal softening of PPSQ.