Highly Transparent Anti-Smudge Coatings for Self-Cleaning, Controllable Liquid Transport, and Corrosion Resistance

Highly transparent anti-smudge coatings are attractive for diverse fields due to their inherent repellency against various contaminants and the ability to keep surfaces clean. In this work, a novel fluorine-free anti-smudge coating system was developed by using poly(dimethysiloxane), tris(hydroxymethyl) aminomethane, and isophorone diisocynate to synthesize a hexa-functional coating precursor and utilizing hexamethylene diisocyanate trimer as a curing agent. The resultant anti-smudge coatings are highly transparent and can be applied to various substrates. These coatings exhibit repellency against water, hexadecane, ink, pump oil, and crude oil and show self-cleaning performance in air and oily environments. Moreover, they display anti-ink ability and can be employed to reduce bacterial contamination. Of note, they can endow substrates with protection against corrosion from strong acids, strong bases, salt solutions, and even aqua regia. The developed coatings also show potential for controllable liquid transport. Moreover, these versatile coatings are mechanically robust, demonstrating tolerance against abrasion, impact, and bending and also exhibiting excellent adhesion to various substrates, indicative of their availability for widespread applications.