Facile preparation of superhydrophobic polyester surfaces with fluoropolymer/SiO 2 nanocomposites based on vinyl nanosilica hydrosols

A facile method to prepare superhydrophobic fluoropolymer/SiO 2 nanocomposites coating on polyester (PET) fabrics was presented. The vinyl nanosilica (VSiO 2 ) hydrosols were prepared via one‐step water‐based sol‐gel reaction with vinyl trimethoxy silane as the precursors in the presence of the base catalyst and composite surfactant. Based on the VSiO 2 hydrosol, a fluorinated acrylic polymer/silica (FAP/SiO 2 ) nanocomposite was prepared by emulsion polymerization. The FAP/SiO 2 nanocomposites were coated onto the polyester fabrics by one‐step process to achieve superhydrophobic surfaces. The results showed that silica nanoparticles were successfully incorporated into the FAP/SiO 2 nanocomposites, and a specific surface topography and a low surface free energy were simultaneously introduced onto PET fibers. The prepared PET fabric showed excellent superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 151.5° for a 5 μL water droplet and a water shedding angle of 12° for a 15 μL. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 40340.