Transparent and anti-smudge ladder-like polysilsesquioxane coating with high wear resistance and UV aging resistance

With the rapid development of multi -function touch panels, more requirements are raised for touch screens including anti -smudge, anti -fingerprint, and high wear resistance, hardness, and UV resistance. Herein, ladderlike poly(2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyltrimethoxy-co-1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilsesquioxane)s (LPEFSQs) were synthesized by the sol-gel reaction of 2-(3,4-Epoxycyclohexyl)ethyltrimethoxysilane (ECTMS) with 1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (PFDTES) to reduce the surface energy of the coating. The incorporation of fluorine chains resulted in an improvement of water contact angle from 77.1 degrees to 115.5 degrees, and oil contact angle from 35.4 degrees to 94.7 degrees, respectively. The omniphobic property rendered the coating excellent antismudge and anti -fingerprint properties while maintaining an extraordinary visible light transparency of 90.1 %. A proper PFDTES fraction of 5 % and the curing agent of I-250 are desired for the coating to simultaneously realize excellent pencil hardness of 6H, anti -smudge, and wear resistance performance. The optimized LPEFSQ coating could withstand a steel wool abrasion for 500 cycles. In addition, the developed LPEFSQ coating maintained excellent omniphobicity when subjected to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation for 200 h demonstrating excellent UV resistance. Therefore, this work provides insights into the synthesis of multifunctional coatings integrated with high transparency, wear resistance, and hardness as well as anti -smudge, and anti -fingerprint properties for touch screens.