Superamphiphobic and Electroactive Nanocomposite toward Self-Cleaning, Antiwear, and Anticorrosion Coatings

Multifunctional coatings are in urgent demand in emerging fields. In this work, nanocomposite coatings with extraordinary self-cleaning, antiwear, and anticorrosion properties were prepared on aluminum substrate by a facile spraying technique. Core-shell structured polyaniline/functionalized carbon nanotubes (PANI/fCNTs) composite and nanosized silica were synergistically integrated into ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) matrix to construct lotus-leaf-like structures, and 1H,1H,2H,2H- perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (POTS) was used to decrease the surface energy. The composite coating with 6 wt % PANI/fCNTs possesses superamphiphobic property, with contact angles of 167°, 163°, and 159° toward water, glycerol, and ethylene glycol, respectively. This coating demonstrates stable nonwetting performance over a wide temperature range (<400 °C), as well as outstanding self-cleaning ability to prevent contamination by sludge, concentrated H₂SO₄, and ethylene glycol. Superamphiphobic surface property could be maintained even after 45 000 times abrasion or bending test for 30 times. The coating displayed strong adhesive ability (grade 1 according to the GB/T9286) on the etched aluminum plate. The superamphiphobic surface could be retained after immersion in 1 mol/L HCl and 3.5 wt % NaCl solutions for 60 and 90 d, respectively. It should be noted that this coating reveals significantly improved anticorrosion performance as compared to the bare ETFE coating and ETFE composite coating without PANI/fCNTs. Such coatings with integrated functionalities offer promising self-cleaning and anticorrosion applications under erosive/abrasive environment.