Mesoporous Carbon Nanocapsules Based Coatings with Multifunctionalities

Multifunctional superhydrophobic coatings are fabricated based on mesoporous carbon nanocapsules (MCC) with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a binder through a facile brush‐on process. The hierarchical micro/nano structures for the coatings are optimized by the relative amount of MCC and hydrophobic PVDF polymer binder. Integration of low surface energy of polymer with micro/nano structure of the coatings is responsible for the superhydrophobicity of the surfaces. At the same time the coatings are conductive due to the MCC being a carbon‐based nanoparticle. The coatings deposited on a stainless steel substrate demonstrate good abrasion resistance tested by pin‐on‐disk method. The hierarchically structured superhydrophobic coatings are also anti bio‐fouling, showing significantly reduced bacterial adhesion (up to a 91% decrease). In addition, the superhydrophobic coatings can be applied conformally over a wide range of substrates including metal, paper, and polyester fabrics. Further, the multifunctionality for the prepared MCC‐based coatings can be enhanced with the possibility to encapsulate nanoparticles inside the core of thin porous carbon shells. Surfaces coated with MCC are also found amenable to the wetting transition between superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity studied by the cyclic alteration of oxygen plasma treatment and thermal annealing.