Highly Stable, Tough, Adhesive, Anticorrosive, and Antifouling Waterborne Polyurethane from Synergistic Perfluoroalcohol-Polysiloxane Modifications

Waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) have found extensive potential applications in industrial fields owing to their facile preparation and eco-friendliness. However, their relatively low hydrophobicity and mechanical strength normally make them nonideal for acting as protective coatings for solid surfaces, as well as adhesive materials for under-water operations. Here, we report one kind of WPU-based material synergistically modified with perfluoroalcohol and polysiloxane. The as-prepared WPU products can not only exhibit long-term colloidal stability after synthesis using a stepwise polymerization method but also readily be processed into functional coatings after directly spreading onto various solid substrates. The resultant polymeric thin films possess good thermal stability, strong hydrophobicity, and high mechanical strength. And all of these properties can be effectively tuned by controlling their internal silicon contents. The excellent hydrophobic and mechanical performances also enable them to act as efficient anticorrosive, antifouling, and under-water adhesive materials for solid surfaces. Our work may provide useful guidance for creating versatile and relatively clean polymeric coatings.