Cold sintering process for fabrication of a superhydrophobic ZnO-polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) ceramic composite

Composite coatings or films with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are typically utilized to offer superhydrophobic surfaces. However, the surfaces usually have limited durability, and require complicated fabrication methods. Herein, we report successful integration of PTFE ZnO ceramic achieve superhydrophobicity via one-step sintering method, cold process (CSP), at 300 °C. (1-x) ZnO–x PTFE composites x ranging from 0 70 vol% densified relative densities over 97%. Micro/nano-scale polymer is dispersed among grains forming grain boundary phases, which modulates surface morphology energy ZnO–PTFE composites. For 60 ZnO–40 composite, properties optimized static water contact angles (WCA) sliding (SA) 162o 7o, respectively. After abrading into various thickness (2.52 mm, 2.26 mm 1.99 mm) contaminating graphite powder on surface, WCA SA still maintained a high level 157-160o 7-9.3o, This work indicates that CSP provides promising pathway integrate realize stable superhydrophobicity.