Figure 5.

(a) Schematic illustrations of fabrication process suggested for anti-wetting fabric coating; (b) The electrophoretic deposition (EPD) cell for step 3 in (a). The cell consists for two stainless steel electrodes with the fabric substrate wrapped around the cathode electrode; (c) Original polyester fabric has twill weave patterns. The inset shows a fabric fiber with SiO₂ nanoparticles deposited on the surface (after Step 2); (d) After 30 s of EPD, SiO₂ nanoparticle layers are observed on the fabric but do not fully cover the surface; (e) After 60 s of EPD, the fabric fibers are uniformly and densely coated with SiO₂ nanoparticles. (f–h) Magnified SEM images of the fabrics after 60 s of EPD (Reprinted from Reference [77] with permission).