Preparation of robust superhydrophobic surface on PET substrate using Box-Behnken design and facile sanding method with PTFE powder

Abstract Superhydrophobic surfaces have attracted increasing interests due to their excellent features, while achieving facile preparation of superhydrophobic surface with good mechanical stability is still a challenging work. In this paper, we prepared a superhydrophobic surface by sanding polytetrafluoroethylene powder directly onto the surface of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film by means of a simple sanding method with sandpaper. The fabrication parameters were firstly optimized using response surface methodology. Surface morphology and chemical composition of the fabricated surface were characterized by SEM, FTIR and XPS. The mechanical performance of the superhydrophobic PET surfaces was evaluated by tape peeling test, and potential applications of this surface in self-cleaning and anti-icing were finally carried out. The results showed that the water contact angle (WCA) up to 153.5° and sliding angle (SA) less than ~3° on PET surface could be prepared under the optimum conditions, and its superhydrophobicity of surfaces was attributed to the synergistically effect of low surface energy and surface roughness. The fabricated superhydrophobic surfaces also exhibited good resistance to abrasion, and they have great potential for application in the fields of self-cleaning and anti-icing.