Abstract
Herein, a facile method for the preparation of an acrylic resin-based superhydrophobic coating is provided. Firstly, ZnO nanoparticles were modified with silane to obtain hydrophobic ZnO, which was then homogeneously blended with acrylic resin. Subsequently, the mixture was sprayed on an aluminum sheet to form a cured coating. The surface composition and morphology of the coating were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The hydrophobicity, wear resistance, and antibacterial properties of the prepared samples were tested. The optimized hydrophobicity was achieved with 10 wt% modification agent and resin-to-ZnO mass ratio of 1:4, exhibiting contact and sliding angles of 168.11° and 7.2°, respectively. Wear resistance was insufficient with a low resin content, while it grew with the increase in the resin content. However, when the resin content was excessively high, the hydrophobicity was reduced because the resin could wrap the modified ZnO nanoparticles and decrease the number of hydrophobic groups on the surface. Compared with the pure acrylic resin coating, the ZnO nanoparticle/acrylic resin superhydrophobic coating demonstrated a significant enhancement in the antibacterial properties.