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Multifunctional composite materials have attracted wide attention because they can be applied in many fields, and have great potential for application. The superhydrophobic surface has been favored by scientists in recent years because of its excellent properties. In this paper, carbon fabric (CF) with high porosity, good electrical conductivity and excellent flexibility was selected as substrate. The CF/Zrâ€"TiO2/PDMS composites were prepared by solvo-thermal method on CF and modified by PDMS, which can be used in the fields of self-cleaning, self-healing, oil/water separation, antibacterial, anti-icing and so on. Furthermore, the PDMS modification has no or negligible adverse effect on the important textile physical properties of the CF. The effects of different process parameters on the structure and properties of CF/Zrâ€"TiO2 were studied, and the samples with the best conditions were obtained. The results show that the sample achieves the transformation from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic after modification. The CF/Zrâ€"TiO2/PDMS composite structure not only shows excellent photocatalytic activity, but also has a certain self-cleaning ability. The samples before and after modification can separate light oil/water and heavy oil/water respectively. Compared with CF/Zrâ€"TiO2, CF/Zrâ€"TiO2/PDMS has better anti- Escherichia coli ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • ZnO/PDMS was successfully synthesized via a two-step method and the influence of process parameters was studied in detail. • ZnO/PDMS possessed excellent photocatalytic and superhydrophobic properties. • The synergistic effect of the photocatalytic and superhydrophobic properties enhanced the antibacterial performance against E. coli. The combination of photocatalysis and superhydrophobic has attracted much attention because of its great prospect. In this work, ZnO/PDMS composites were synthesized by electrodeposition-grafting modification method. The effects of process parameters on the structure and properties of the composite structures were studied, and the composite structures were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV-visible spectroscopy and contact angle measurement. The results showed that the samples obtained under the optimal conditions have superhydrophobic property and remained excellent photocatalytic performance. In the self-cleaning experiment, the simulated pollutants can be effectively removed from the surface. Compared with ZnO, ZnO/PDMS possessed better resistance to Escherichia coli, which was due to the synergistic antibacterial mechanism of photocatalytic activity and superhydrophobic interaction. Furthermore, we also discussed the mechanism in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]