Preparation and characterization of polyacrylate composite and its application in superhydrophobic coating based on silicone-modified ZnO

In this paper, a kind of silicone containing double bond and hydrogen bond has been synthesized via telomerization. In order to disperse and incorporate ZnO into the polymer matrix, ZnO was modified with silicone. Finally, ZnO/polyacrylate and silicone/polyacrylate composites were prepared using modified ZnO and silicone. The present study reports synthesis and characterization of ZnO/polyacrylate and silicone/polyacrylate nanocomposites by in situ emulsion polymerization. The effects of ZnO and silicone on the morphological structure and thermal properties of composites were systematically studied. The composites were characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA, particle size analysis, UV, and WCA. It could be seen that the thermal degradation temperature of the composites increased significantly with the addition of ZnO and silicone. SEM analysis showed that the films were evenly distributed with the surface-modified ZnO nanoparticles. Then, the modified ZnO/polyacrylate superhydrophobic composite coating was prepared using modified ZnO and silicone/polyacrylate emulsion. The coating has excellent self-cleaning and oil–water separation properties.