Fabrication of superhydrophobic cotton textiles with flame retardancy

A flame-retardant and superhydrophobic coating was applied to cotton textiles by a conventional pad-dry-cure method, which involved the deposition of branched poly(ethylenimine), polyacrylate soap-free latex and ammonium polyphosphate. The as-coated fabrics showed superhydrophobicity with a self-cleaning effect, and the fibers could generate a char layer in the flame-burning test, giving the fabrics a self-extinguishing property. Importantly, the resulting fabrics remained superhydrophobic after 75 commercial laundering cycles. The advantages of this method are being simple, affordable and easy to use in the factory production of large quantities of multifunctional textiles.