We report a quick and simple method to fabricate transparent superhydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using partial combustion of PDMS by thermal convection. The fabrication process only uses PDMS as an ingredient and does not require harmful, expensive materials such as organic solvent or fluoropolymer. To make PDMS superhydrophobic, combustion reaction was used to create hierarchical structures with micro- to nano-scale roughness with low surface energy required for the fabrication of superhydrophobic surface. Combustion of PDMS surface created hydrophobic silica-containing nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are deposited on the PDMS surface, creating hierarchical nano-structures required for superhydrophobic surface. To minimize the damage from excessive heat and flame, thermal convection was used to control the degree of combustion during the fabrication process. The fabricated superhydrophobic surface showed static water contact angle of 155.6°, and contact angle hysteresis of 5°. The fabricated surface also maintained light transmittance greater than 70% of the maximum transmittance of pristine PDMS in visible light region.

我们报告了一种通过热对流部分燃烧 PDMS 来制造透明超疏水聚二甲基硅氧烷 (PDMS) 的快速简单方法。制造过程仅使用 PDMS 作为成分，不需要有害、昂贵的材料，如有机溶剂或含氟聚合物。为了使 PDMS 具有超疏水性，使用燃烧反应来创建具有微米到纳米级粗糙度的分级结构，并且制造超疏水表面所需的表面能较低。PDMS 表面的燃烧产生了含有疏水性二氧化硅的纳米粒子。这些纳米颗粒沉积在 PDMS 表面，形成超疏水表面所需的分层纳米结构。为了尽量减少过热和火焰造成的损害，热对流用于控制制造过程中的燃烧程度。制备的超疏水表面显示静态水接触角为 155.6°，接触角滞后为 5°。制造的表面还保持了可见光区域中原始 PDMS 最大透射率的 70% 以上的透光率。