Today, hydrophobic, and super hydrophobic coatings are finding applications in a wide range of industrial and consumer goods applications. Superhydrophobic surfaces and coatings have been inspired biomimetically from the water-repelling and self-cleaning properties of lotus leaves. These surfaces are characterized by a high-water contact angle of more than 150 degrees and a small sliding angle of less than 15 degrees. These coatings can be applied to a wide variety of substrates including textiles and fabrics to make the applied surface stain shedding. Unfortunately, most of the water and dirt repellent coatings available in the market contain flurochemicals, and are not environment friendly, bio-accumulative, and have been cited as carcinogenic by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To solve this issue, there is a growing need to develop a sustainable and effective replacement for fluorochemicals in the fabric coating formulations that provides the same benefits of fluorochemicals, but is not bio-accumulative and carcinogenic.
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