A facile method of superhydrophobic coating on rubberwood to improve its anti-mildew performance

Rubberwood, which can be regarded as a natural polymer composite, presents many difficulties in the process of material modification. In this study, a convenient method was developed to impart superhydrophobicity to the rubberwood surface. SiO2-PS composite film was formed on rubberwood surface by simple short-term impregnation. The obtained superhydrophobic rubberwood exhibited a water contact angle (WCA) of ~155.6° at room temperature. The superhydrophobic coating surface provides the abilities of self-cleaning and anti-bacteria for rubberwood. Combined with a small amount of 3-iodo-2-propyl-butyl carbamate (IPBC), the control effect of the four fungi reached 75% (Botryodiplodia theobromae), 100% (Trichoderma viride), 95% (Penicillium citrinum), and 100% (Aspergillus niger), respectively. The developed method herein features environment-friendly raw materials, facile processing, and large-scale fabrication. It provides a new solution for long- term timber protection processing.