Porous poly(2-octyl cyanoacrylate): a facile one-step preparation of superhydrophobic coatings on different substrates

Superhydrophobic surfaces hold great promise in a variety of applications where the extreme water repellency can lead to novel properties and functionalities. Most of the existing techniques, however, require multi-step and laborious procedures as well as are only applicable to certain substrates. We present a facile one-step ("paint-like") method for creating superhydrophobic porous polymer coatings. The approach is based on the anionic polymerization of octyl cyanoacrylate in the presence of aqueous ethanol. This leads to the formation of a highly porous superhydrophobic polymer film. The morphology of the porous structure can be controlled by varying the ethanol/water ratio. The method is fast, convenient, does not require any special equipment, and can be performed in the presence of oxygen. We show that the technique can be used to coat variety of materials, is applicable to three-dimensional substrates and leads to the formation of stable and strongly adherent superhydrophobic coatings.