Fig. 5: Evolution of morphology, chemical structure, wettability and glossiness for different coatings during weathering test.

a Digital pictures of different coatings before and after weathering test (scale bar: 5 mm); the surface morphology and surface roughness of (b1) blank epoxy coating, (b2) EP/MSN5% coating, and (b3) EP/MSN-TA5% coating after 384 h of weathering test; FTIR spectra of (c1) blank epoxy coating, (c2) EP/MSN5% coating, and (c3) EP/MSN-TA5% coating during 384 h of weathering test; d the variation of water contact angle for different coatings and e the corresponding images; f the variation of the gloss values for different coatings (error bars stand for the standard deviations from three independent samples).