Transparent Superamphiphobic Material Formed by Hierarchical Nano Re-Entrant Structure

Developing transparent and superamphiphobic materials that can repel low-surface-tension liquids is attractive for fundamental research and industrial applications. Despite great progress, it remains a daunting challenge to scalably fabricate highly transparent superamphiphobic materials because of the inherent paradox in surface roughness to achieve superamphiphobicity and optical transparency. Herein, a scalable template-assisted spray coating method is developed to form hierarchical nano re-entrant structures that eliminate the visible-light scattering while maintaining optical transmittance above 88% in the visible region, besides retaining the superamphiphobicity to various low surface-tension liquids. In addition to exhibiting improved mechanical, chemical, and thermal stabilities, these transparent superamphiphobic materials can also be applied on various substrates, including curved surfaces and solar panels, to enhance their optical stability. This study believes that these excellent overall properties possess enormous potential for various applications involving self-cleaning, anti-fouling, and anti-counterfeiting.