Construction of transparent, robust and haze-selectable superhydrophobic coatings with honeycomb structure.

• A honeycomb-structured superhydrophobic coating is prepared. • The coating exhibited a high visible light transmittance (90.0%). • By regulating structure, the haze of the coating can be adjusted (8.9%-54.1%). • The coating has excellent mechanical abrasion and weathering resistance. Transparent superhydrophobic coatings have excellent self-cleaning performance and are particularly suitable for applications in the fields of outdoor photovoltaic displays, solar power generation, and windows. However, the micro-nanostructures required for superhydrophobic coatings make them poor abrasion-resistant and foggy, and hence transparent superhydrophobic coatings with good practicality still remain great challenging. Here, we report honeycomb-structured coatings simultaneously with high transparency, abrasion-resistance and superhydrophobicity by fabrication of honeycomb epoxy resin structure via PDMS template method and subsequent spraying of hydrophobic SiO 2 nanoparticles. The coatings with different honeycomb structures exhibit average transmittance of 90.0 %, and the haze in the range of 8.9–54.1 %. Both the honeycomb structure formed by hard epoxy resin and strong adhesion of hydrophobic SiO 2 nanoparticles enable the coatings to maintain superhydrophobicity after harsh mechanical abrasion and weathering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]