Thermally induced response self-healing superhydrophobic wood with self-cleaning and photocatalytic performance

Fabrication of self-healing coating is a promising method to balance the mechanical robustness and non-wetting properties of superhydrophobic materials. Wood is a porous material have thermal response properties. If the superhydrophobic coating can be rationally assembled on fibers, after the surface was destroyed, the modifier stored in the porous structure can promote superhydrophobic self-healing through thermally induced response. By employed Ti–Si sol to build the rough microstructure, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as low surface energy to cooperative construction superhydrophobic wood, and the wood has self-healing, self-cleaning, photocatalytic properties after thermally induced response by surface carbonization. SEM indicates that the wood has a three-dimensional pore superhydrophobic roughness network with a contact angle (WCA) of 161.4° and a sliding angle (SA) of about 0°. Its surface has reliable self-healing capability after a series of serious mechanical damage, even if were to split. Meanwhile, the wood can self-cleaning, and has superhydrophobicity in hostile environments. Furthermore, the wood has photocatalytic functionality in degrading organic contaminants and with a degradation efficiency of above 90% (methyl red). The simple method opens a new horizon to designing durable superhydrophobic materials and meets the demands for new wood-based functional materials in harsh environments.Graphical abstract