and also the advantage of good durability because of the electrostatic interactions between the negatively charged silica nanoparticles and the polycations. Here it should bementioned that
for superhydrophobic fabric, its durability against washing remains
a great challenge; Daoud et al. [15] reported the static contact angle
of cotton fabric decreased from 141◦ to 105◦ after 10 wash cycles,
and Gao et al. [23] also reported the dramatic decrease in the static
contact angle of superhydrophobic cotton fabric from 155◦ to about
105◦ after 10 wash cycles. In this study, we report on the fabrication
of superhydrophobic cotton fabrics by electrostatic LbL assembly
of silica nanoparticles and polycations on cotton fibers and subsequent
treatment with fluoroalkylsilane. The surface morphology
of the silica nanoparticle-assembled fibers can be tailored by the
assembly cycles, which makes it available to study the effect of
the surface morphology on the static contact angle and the contact