## 2 Experimental Section
### Methods  
FTIR spectra of fluorinated silica materials were recorded on a Fourier Transformed Infrared spectrometer (FTIR, model FT-IR 6300, Jasco Int. Co. Ltd., San Francisco, CA, USA) equipped with a 3-inch sphere (model PIKE Mid-IR IntegratIR, Madison, WI, USA), and evaluated from 500 to 5000-500 cm\({}^{-1}\) range.  
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed on a TA TGA Q500 IR instrument (TA Instruments, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) working in the 30-750 \({}^{\circ}\)C range, under a nitrogen atmosphere, at a heating rate of 10 \({}^{\circ}\)C/min. Powdered materials (8-10 mg) were analyzed using alumina crucibles.  
The fluorinated silica materials were analyzed through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM, model TECNAI F20 G\({}^{2}\) TWIN Cryo-TEM, FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR, USA) at 200 kV accelerating voltage.  
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) measurements were performed with a microscope produced by Park Systems (XE-100 model) working in non-contact mode. The microscope is able to obtain accurate images due to its configuration, namely its decoupled XY/Z and flexure-guided cross-talk eliminated scanners. In all AFM experiments, sharp tips with less than a 10 nm radius of curvature, \(\sim\)125 \(\upmu\)m length, \(\sim\)30 \(\upmu\)m width, \(\sim\)42 N/m force constant, and \(\sim\)330 kHz resonance frequency (NCHR, Nanosensors(tm)) were used. The AFM images were processed with the XEI program (v 1.8.0--Park Systems) for thermal tilt correction and roughness assessment. The root-mean-squared roughness (Rq) is the standard deviation of the height value in the image, and the peak-to-valley parameter (Rpv) indicates the height difference between the minimum and the maximum. The AFM images are shown in \"enhanced color\"194 view mode, accompanied by representative line scans which show the surface z-axis in detail.  
The spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurements were achieved on a VASE ellipsometer (J.A. Woollam. Co., Lincoln, NE, USA) at a 65\({}^{\circ}\) angle of incidence, in the range of 400-800 nm, with a 10 nm step. The film thickness, roughness, and fit error (mean square error--MSE) were achieved through fitting the experimental spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) spectra with a model based on the references within the commercial WVASE32(tm) software (version 3.920). Transmittance spectra of fluorinated hybrid coatings were measured by SE in the 250-800 nm wavelength range.  
Diffuse reflectance spectra of fluorinated hybrid coatings were carried out by an ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometer (model UV-VIS-NIR-Jasco V-570, JASCO Int. Co. Ltd., San Francisco, CA, USA) equipped with a large integrating sphere (model ILN-472, JASCO Int. Co. Ltd., San Francisco, CA, USA); they were recorded in the range from 780 to 380 nm. Each hybrid coating was analyzed three times (standard deviation \(\pm\) 0.2%).  
The water contact angles of the coatings were measured using a tensiometer (model CAM 200, KSV Instruments Ltd., Monroe, WI, USA) connected to a high-resolution camera (Basler A602f, Ahrensburg, Germany). The results of the static contact angle were the mean  
Figure 1: Schematic illustration of synthesis procedure to obtain fluorinated silica materials as powdered materials and as fluorinated hybrid coatings.  
value of 20 single measurements. Water droplets (\(\sim\)6 \(\mu\)L) were placed carefully in various zones of the coatings.