Slippery Coatings with Durable Contaminant Resistance Enabled by Specific Interactions between Nanoporous Block Copolymers and Lubricants

Slippery coatings based on lubricant-filled porous surfaces are a crucial class of repellent materials, comprising micro/nanostructured substrates infused with a lubricating liquid, which has demonstrated remarkable resistance to liquid or biological contaminants. However, the fabrication of slippery coatings using a straightforward approach and ensuring robust oil-locking ability remain highly challenging. Herein, selective swelling of the block copolymer of polystyrene-block-poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PS-b-PDMS, abbreviated as SDMS) is used to produce nanoporous thin films with interconnected porosities, thereby slippery coatings are facilely constructed by infusing silicone oil into the nanoporosities. The nanoporous structure provides strong capillary forces for trapping and storing infused lubricants. Meanwhile, the identical molecular composition shared by PDMS blocks and silicone oil ensures their strong adhesion and integration, thereby guaranteeing long-term durability of the slippery coatings. The slippery coatings have excellent repellency to varied liquids and can be self-cleaning and also display good antifouling performances to algae adhesion and microbial contamination in real river water. Constructing slippery coatings on the iron surface enables significant retardation of corrosion under water. This work offers a new approach for the easy and feasible formation of slippery coatings, which holds promising applications in the fields of biofouling resistance and anticorrosion protection.