A novel approach to fabricate durable superhydrophobic and UV protective cotton fabrics using fly ash and graphene nanoplatelets

Durable and stable superhydrophobic surfaces have attracted a great deal of attention, where simplification of their preparation procedures is being explored. Fluorine-containing superhydrophobic surfaces typically exhibit excellent durability, but their use has been constrained by environmental hazards. The presented study reported the facile and low-cost approach for the fabrication of the durable superhydrophobic and UV protective cotton fabrics using milled fly ash and graphene nanoplatelet. The polydimethylsiloxane was used as a non-fluorinated low-surface energy material. The fly ash graphene composite particles were prepared by a ball milling process with mechanical activation on the surface, exhibiting excellent superhydrophobicity based on the apparent micro/nanopore structure of the surface. The coated cotton fabric surface exhibited a large water contact angle of 151.76° with a sliding angle of 9.9°, demonstrating excellent superhydrophobicity. The coated fabric surface also showed long-lasting durability in different environments, withstanding approximately 150 abrasions, 20 washings, 30 h of continuous UV exposure as well as acid and alkaline immersion. In addition, the UV shielding properties of the coated fabric were also found, with the modified fabric achieving a maximum UPF value of 177.6. The superhydrophobic coatings in this study are facile and fast to prepare with excellent durability in different environments and therefore show promising applications in functional finishing of textiles.