Facile preparation of multifunctional bamboo with superhydrophobic, conductive, and flame-retardant properties

Bamboo, because of its fast growth, high fiber strength and biodegradability, had been used to develop lightweight structural materials. However, the inherent hydrophilicity, poor dimensional stability, electrical insulation, and flammability seriously limited its application in many traditional fields, including building structures, outdoor landscapes and some emerging fields, such as smart furniture. To this end, we reported a facile two-step approach including in-situ growth of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecanethiol (PFDT) deposition to prepare multifunctional bamboo with superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning performance, dimensional stability, conductivity, flame retardancy, and antibacterial activity. The obtained multifunctional bamboo had superhydrophobicity with a high water contact angle of 159.8° and excellent surface chemical and mechanical stability. The superhydrophobic surface was proven for various droplets (i.e. milk, juice and coffee) and showed excellent self-cleaning performance. Compared with the untreated bamboo, the hydrophobic layer reduced the moisture adsorption of the multifunctional bamboo by 57 % and improved the dimensional stability greatly. The dense Ag NP layer made the conductivity of functional bamboo as high as 568 m s−1, reduced the peak smoke rate of the material (0.008 m2/s), and endowed the multifunctional bamboo efficiently antibacterial activities. These properties were expected to promote the various practical application of the multifunctional bamboo.