Covalently grafted liquids for transparent and omniphobic surfaces via thiol-ene click chemistry

Here, a robust omniphobic slippery surface with excellent transparency was fabricated on ultrasmooth glass by thiol-ene click chemistry without pretextured rough structure. The original glass after alkaline hydrothermal treatment could form massive hydroxyl group, which acted as the reactive sites could occur dehydration condensation reaction with the 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane. Then, the vinyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) covalently grafted onto the mercapto-modified glass via the facile and efficient thiol-ene click chemistry. The prepared surface exhibited superior transparency, omniphobicity and anti-fouling property. Moreover, the tethered PDMS monolayer displayed durable liquid-repellent property after long-term storage in high/low temperature, UV irradiation, water impaction and mechanical abrasion tests. Thus, such covalent grafting strategy for constructing omniphobic and transparent coatings without the assistant of the textured rough structure could promote the advancement of interfacial antiwetting materials. Graphic abstract A highly transparent omniphobic coating was prepared by covalently grafting of vinyl-terminated PDMS onto the mercapto-modified surface via a thiol-ene click reaction. This PDMS-silicone oil-grafted surface exhibited high transparency and performed good antifouling property and liquid repellency even to the ethanol. Furthermore, the covalent grafting strategy endows the lubricating layer with excellent stability and mechanical durability to various external destructions.