Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Wood Surface by Etching Polydopamine Coating with Sodium Hydroxide

Superhydrophobic treatment of wood surfaces can effectively prevent the contact between the external moisture and wood, which improves the service life of the wood. In this study, different rough surfaces of wood were constructed, derived from the self-polymerization of dopamine (DA) in weak base solution to form a polydopamine (PDA) coating and the deprotonation of the PDA coating in a strong base solution. Furthermore, octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) was used as a low-surface-free-energy agent to modify rough surface in order to prepare superhydrophobic woods: Wood@PDA–NaOH–OTS and the Wood@PDA–NaOH/SiO2–OTS. The contact angles (CAs) and sliding angles (SAs) of the resulting superhydrophobic woods were tested. The results showed that the CA and SA of the Wood@PDA–NaOH–OTS were 151° and 4.8°, respectively; the CA and SA of the Wood@PDA–NaOH/SiO2–OTS were 155.1° and 5.0°, respectively. Surface electron microscopy (SEM) images presented that NaOH successfully etched the PDA coating, and the roughness was further improved by adding nano-SiO2. Atomic force microscope images (AFM) revealed that the nano-SiO2 particles could effectively provide nanolevel roughness, which was beneficial to the wood’s superhydrophobic properties. In addition, the obtained superhydrophobic wood possessed strong surface stability and anti-loss property, as well as resistance to acid-base solution and organic solvent.