Nanosilica coated polydimethylsiloxane mushroom structure: A next generation flexible, transparent, and mechanically durable superhydrophobic thin film

Herein, we propose our successful attempt toward developing the transparent and flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based superhydrophobic and oleophobic thin film. The superior superhydrophobic and oleophobic properties were achieved by employing several key parameters, such as the fabrication of mushroom shaped microstructure, creating nanosized hierarchical roughness on the PDMS mushroom structure, and functionalization of the structures with low surface energy material. The successful formation of the nanostructure on mushroom and surface functionalization are demonstrated by various analytical techniques. The fabricated films based on PDMS mushroom microstructures (PM), nanosilica coated PDMS mushroom microstructures ([email protected]), and fluorine functionalized nanosilica coated PDMS mushroom microstructures ([email protected]) showed water contact angle (CA) of ∼ 145°, 161° and 166°, respectively. Besides, the [email protected] film showed CA of 146° to ethylene glycol indicating the oleophobic characteristic of the proposed material. The fabricated films exhibited excellent mechanical stability and durability during tape peeling, sandpaper scratch and sand abrasion, stretching test. The practical applicability of the proposed film is demonstrated as the protection layer for a solar module and a rear-view camera.