Color fastness enhancement of dyed wood by Si-sol@PDMS based superhydrophobic coating

Superhydrophobic surfaces have been widely used in surface protection. Dyed wood (D-wood) easily fades when exposed to water, but to improve its the color fastness, a superhydrophobic coating can be applied to reduce the D-wood's interaction with water. In this work, dyed-superhydrophobic wood (DS-wood) was successfully prepared by in-situ growth and transformation of Si-sol and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to enhance the color fastness of D-wood. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) indicated that the Si-sol deposited on the D-wood surface generated a rough coating and combined with the construction of PDMS acted to improve the superhydrophobicity. The water contact angle (WCA) of the DS-wood was around 151.6° and the sliding angle (SA) was about 7°. Because the superhydrophobic coating can form a protective layer on the D-wood surface, DS-wood does not suffer from severe fading under long-term water washing conditions. In addition, even after other rigorous tests (abrasion, chemical and solvent corrosion), DS-wood has excellent superhydrophobic stability and does not suffer color degradation. Last, DS-wood has been shown to exhibit excellent self-cleaning properties. This method provides a new strategy and paradigm for the application of superhydrophobic coating and the surface protection of D-wood.