Calcium stearate nanoparticles as building blocks for mechanically durable superhydrophobic coatings

Mechanical durability and cost-efficiency are two main concerns in moving superhydrophobic coatings toward real-life applications. However, the development of inexpensive, simple, and large-scale strategies for preparing superhydrophobic coatings that are simultaneously mechanically durable and low-cost is still challenging. Herein, we proposed a one-step dip-coating approach for in situ growing calcium stearate nanoparticles on the desired substrates simply by using commercially available calcium stearate and a suitable selection of solvents. The resulting superhydrophobic calcium stearate nanoparticle coatings show excellent mechanical durability under 100 cycles of sandpaper abrasion and 300 cycles of tape peeling, good stability towards UV light irradiation, thermal treatment and organic solvents. Furthermore, the as-prepared calcium stearate nanoparticle-coated polyester filter cloth was successfully demonstrated for oil/water separation. It is believed that such simple, rapid and cost-efficient approach provide a valid strategy and promising applications for large-scale fabrication of mechanically durable superhydrophobic coatings.