Planting Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes onto Epoxidized Soybean Oil-Based Vitrimer to Construct a Biobased Photothermal Superhydrophobic Coating with Self-Healing and Closed-Loop Recyclability for Anti/Deicing

Endowing superhydrophobic coatings (SHCs) with photothermal properties has become a promising approach to overcoming the icephobic performance failure of SHCs in low-temperature and high-humidity environments. However, the reported photothermal SHCs rely on petroleum-based resources and are nonrecyclable, which is not conducive to resource conservation and environmental protection. In addition, they are also prone to external damage that shortens their service life. Herein, a fully biobased epoxy vitrimer with self-healing and closed-recyclability was prepared by curing epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) with a fully biobased imine-containing curing agent derived from 1,10-diaminodecane and vanillin. Subsequently, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were planted on the surface of the ESO-based vitrimer to create a superhydrophobic coating, taking advantage of the dissolution and swelling behavior of solvents. MWCNTs can spontaneously form micro/nanostructures on the surface of the vitrimer due to the planting method, endowing the coating with excellent anti/deicing (ice delaying time: 622 s, ice adhesion strength: 11.2 kPa) and photothermal deicing performance (remove surface frost or ice within 30 s). More importantly, the coating possessed the ability for photothermal self-healing thanks to the photothermal effect of MWCNTs and the bond exchangeability of the vitrimer, which is beneficial for achieving remote and precise self-healing. At the same time, the dynamic imine bonds in the vitrimer can give the coating excellent closed-loop recycling. This study has a guiding significance for the sustainable development of photothermal coatings and the recycling of composite coatings.