文摘
The wettability of rubbers with silica nanoparticle modification was investigated with theory and experiment. A simple coating technology was applied to generate the superhydrophobic styrene鈥揵utadiene rubber (SBR). Silica nanoparticles were covalently bonded with 纬-methacryloxy propyl trimethoxysilane (纬-MPTMS), which was employed to improve coating durability through the thiol鈥揺ne click reaction with the SBR matrix. The contact angles of water droplets on the net and modified surfaces were then measured. The application of a three-dimensional density functional theory approach to predict the wetting contact angles showed that the chemical composition, chain conformation, and micro/nanostructure have different contributions to the hydrophobic behaviors. The theoretically predicted contact angles were partly validated by their experimental counterparts.