A photothermal self-healing superhydrophobic coating based on polydopamine-modified graphene oxide

GO/PDA-160 is used as a photothermal filler in organic coatings. • The coating shows a water contact angle of 163.1° and sliding angle of 3.83°. • The coating suppresses icing and enables fast photothermal de-icing. • The GO/PDA-160 coating can scratch repair and restore superhydrophobic. Traditional superhydrophobic coatings are susceptible to mechanical damage and generally lack active de-icing and self-healing capabilities, which limits their long-term application in harsh environments. In this study, graphene oxide (GO) is modified with different amounts of polydopamine (PDA) to optimize its photothermal performance, and the GO/PDA-160 composite exhibits relatively high photothermal response. GO/PDA-160 is subsequently incorporated with silica, polydimethylsiloxane, and epoxy resin to fabricate a multifunctional composite coating with superhydrophobic, photothermal anti-icing/de-icing, and photoresponsive self-healing properties via a spray-coating method. The results shows that the coating containing 20 mg of GO/PDA-160 achieves a water contact angle of 163.1° and sliding angle of 3.83°, indicating favorable superhydrophobic and self-cleaning performance. The coating effectively delays ice-crystal nucleation and enables active photothermal de-icing through rapid heating under visible light irradiation. In addition, it exhibits strong resistance to water-jet impact and blade scratching. After 20 min of visible-light irradiation, surface scratches are partially repaired, and both the surface morphology and superhydrophobic properties are largely restored. These results suggest that the proposed coating provides a promising strategy for developing durable multifunctional protective coatings for harsh and complex environments. Download: Download high-res image (232KB) Download: Download full-size image