Janus Particles: A New Additive for Improving Waterborne Coatings through Self-Stratification

By Shan Jiang, Yifan Li, Rebecca Mort

The coatings industry has undergone significant transformations in recent years due to the replacement of organic solvent-based coatings by waterborne emulsion latex polymer coatings. Waterborne technology has generated profound impact in industry and everyday life, producing great environmental and health benefits. The prevalence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in coatings has been greatly reduced, from 700 g/L in the 1940s to ~ 50 g/L in the 2010s. Although waterborne coatings offer considerable benefits, challenges remain in areas such as water resistance, stability, film formation, and surface hardness, which can affect their overall performance and application.