Dip-assembling of robust photocatalytic superamphiphobic coatings for multiple self-cleaning and anti-fouling

Superamphiphobic surface exhibits excellent self-cleaning and anti-fouling properties, which can be applied in many fields. However, the accumulation of non-volatile organic contaminates can make the superamphiphobicity invalid gradually. Herein, we proposed a novel design of superamphiphobic coating with photocatalytic ability to degrade organic contaminates, aiming for multiple self-cleaning surface. It was realized through a simple dip coating strategy with layered and self-assembled micro-nano reentrant structure assistant with low surface energy. The dip coating surface exhibits superamphiphobicity against a variety of liquids, even for hexadecane (with a low surface energy of 27.5 mN/m) also has a contact angle of 152.4° and sliding angle of 8.4°, respectively. Simultaneously, due to the photocatalytic degradation of accumulated organic contaminants that on the surface, the dip coating surface can effectively restore the superamphiphobicity cyclically with both experimental and real outdoor conditions. Besides, this novel strategy can be applied to a variety of substrates and exhibits excellent flexibility and good durability, which can resilience to over 500 times of abrasion, chemical reagent corrosion for over 48 h, endure high temperature at 300 °C for over 12 h, and over 1,000 times of bending or 500 times of torsions. Consequently, we convince that this photocatalytic superamphiphobic coating strategy brings a promising method for maintaining long-term self-cleaning and anti-fouling capabilities in variety of applications even in harsh environments.