Sprayable coating based on fluorinated silica nanocomposites with superhydrophobic and antibacterial properties for advanced concrete

The porous hydrophilic nature of concrete structures makes them highly susceptible to chemical attack and bacterial adhesion, and the durability of concrete structures gradually decreases. In this work, a kind of sprayable coating with superhydrophobic and antibacterial properties was developed, which was used for surface engineering of concrete via the hydrophilic property of concrete and capillary action. The treated surface of concrete exhibited significant superhydrophobicity, with a static water contact angle of 162.4° and a sliding angle of 5°. The water absorption values of the treated concrete samples in merged in deionized water and 3.5 ?wt% NaCl solution for 7 days were measured as 1.85% and 2.71%, indicating the enhancement of water repellency by 72.03% and 80.11%, respectively. The antibacterial characterization revealed that the superhydrophobic coating enabled significantly reduced adhesion of bacteria, with the antibacterial rates of 84.57 ?± ?2.5% for E. coli and 90.43 ?± ?1.6% for S. epidermidis, respectively. The superhydrophobic coating provides hydrophobic protection for porous substrate structures and effectively reduce the corrosion damage of substrate materials, which is of practical significance for improving the durability of concrete structures.