Fabrication of PMMA superhydrophobic surface coating by hot embossing/spray method

A new method to prepare PMMA superhydrophobic surface with SiO₂ nanoparticles and PMMA as raw materials was proposed, in which stainless steel mesh was used as the template and spraying was adopted. Effects of the hot embossing pressure and the contents of SiO₂ nanoparticles on the superhydrophobic properties of the coating were investigated. Results indicate that SiO₂ nanoparticles can remarkably improve the wettability of PMMA surface. When the pressure of hot embossing is 0.5, MPa and the mass percentage of SiO₂ nanoparticles is 4%, the composite coating has a high water contact angle of 164° ±0.8°and a small sliding angle of less than 2°. The surface morphology of the coatings was investigated using scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and was proved to be a regular 2D micronano structure. The surface coatings show high superdrophobic properties for all solutions with pH ranging from 1 to 14. Moreover, the contact angles are still larger than 150°after the fabricated superhydrophobic surface has been placed in the air for 10 months.