Preparation and particle size effects study of sustainable self-cleaning and durable silicon materials with superhydrophobic surface performance

Superhydrophobic materials with surface drying, self-cleaning, and antibiological pollution characters are broadly used in biotechnology, medicine, and shipbuilding sectors. In this paper, micro-nano silica is modified using a silane-based coupling agent. An organosilicon compound is grafted to the silica surface to obtain a superhydrophobic material with low surface energy. The results show that the superhydrophobic material with a 20 nm particle size silica modified with vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES-SiO 2 ) offers the best properties with a contact angle of 163.32° and a rolling angle of smaller than 3°. Compared with the raw material, the treated silica reveals superhydrophobicity under nano conditions with a rolling angle smaller than 3°. The wettability of the prepared material does not decrease after being placed in the air for 3 months. Moreover, it still maintains self-cleaning performance after being placed in water for one month, showing the potential of long-term use of the material. The prepared materials provide excellent superhydrophobic properties while is environmentally friendly. Thus, this study delivers potential value for the preparation of environmentally friendly superhydrophobic materials with broad application prospects of superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning characters. • Developed treated SiO 2 superhydrophobic materials without fluorine compounds. • Treatment with vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) significantly decreased SiO 2 surface energy. • Superhydrophobic product remained with stable performance in water for a month. • Superhydrophobic product revealed high durability in air with stable performance. • Product can be applied by brushing and spraying on various substrates surfaces.