Hydrophobization of cotton fabrics was
carried out with the use of bifunctional polysiloxanes
with various contents of functional groups. Polysiloxanes
contained in their structure groups capable of
bonding to substrates (trialkoxysilyl or glycidyl ones)
and fluoroalkyl groups showing surface activity. Two
methods of surface modification were compared: (1) a
one-step method via the chemical modification of
fabrics with solutions of bifunctional polysiloxanes
and (2) a two-step method—via preliminary modifi-
cation of fabrics with silica sol followed by chemical
modification with solutions of bifunctional polysiloxanes.
The hydrophobicity was determined by measuring
the water contact angle by drop profile
tensiometry. Changes in the surface topography were
examined by scanning electron microscopy. Superhydrophobic
fabrics were obtained by a simple one-step
method by the chemical modification in solutions of
bifunctional polysiloxanes. The fabrics maintained