Aqueous construction of raspberry-like ZIF-8 hierarchical structures with enhanced superhydrophobic performance

Materials with super-wetting ability have attracted wide attention from both academia and industry due to their great potential applications. A straightforward and versatile route was proposed for the large-scale synthesis of a monodisperse raspberry-like metal-organic framework (ZIF-8) using zinc nitrate as a zinc source and dimethylimidazole as an organic ligand in aqueous solution. After hydrophobic treatment with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane, the ethanolic suspension of three-dimensional raspberry-like ZIF-8 showed excellent superhydrophobic properties. Furthermore, commercial adhesives were used to blend with the suspension to improve the bonding strength to different substrates. These surfaces retained their water resistance after 50 finger-wipe cycles, 40 sandpaper abrasions and knife scratches. Moreover, the prepared hydrophobic surface can withstand the impact of water flow for 10 minutes. The formulations developed can be used for superhydrophobic coating applications on different substrate surfaces such as aluminum foil, glass, paper and cotton.