Facile synthesis of solvent-free and mechanically robust coating with self-cleaning property

A mechanically robust, transparent, solvent-free, and self-cleaning coating (GPMS-DTDA/PFTS) was fabricated based on the co-hydrolysis/condensation of the Dibutyltin dilaurate, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-amino-propyltrimethoxysilane (curing agent), while the different amount of 1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecyltrimethoxysilane were added to the system to reduce the surface energy of the coating. The morphology and properties of the polysiloxane-based coating were characterized by SEM, FTIR, UV-vis-NIR. The as-synthesized GPMS-DTDA/PFTS-based coating displays excellent performance with the hardness of 8H, superior adhesion (5B), high transmittance (95.2 %), hydrophobicity (CA: 107 degrees) as well as outstanding properties of self-cleaning and weather resistance.