Superhydrophobic TiO2 coatings formed through a non-fluorinated wet chemistry route

We present a facile and low cost non-fluorinated wet chemistry route yielding rough and highly hydrophobic surfaces. This procedure is based on a nanosphere lithography (NSL) method using polystyrene (PS) spheres. Multilayer PS coatings were impregnated with a sol–gel TiO2 polymeric sol and then hea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Surface science 2013-11, Vol.617, p.141-148
Main Authors: Holtzinger, C., Niparte, B., Wächter, S., Berthomé, G., Riassetto, D., Langlet, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical Sciences
Coatings
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Droplets
Exact sciences and technology
Grafting
Heat treatment
Material chemistry
Nanosphere lithography
Nonfluorinated hydrophobization
Physics
Polystyrene resins
Precursors
Scanning electron microscopy
Sol–gel process
Superhydrophobic coatings
Titanium dioxide
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Summary:We present a facile and low cost non-fluorinated wet chemistry route yielding rough and highly hydrophobic surfaces. This procedure is based on a nanosphere lithography (NSL) method using polystyrene (PS) spheres. Multilayer PS coatings were impregnated with a sol–gel TiO2 polymeric sol and then heat-treated at 500°C. Derived NSL-structured TiO2 coatings were then grafted with hexadecyl trimethoxysilane (C16). The morphology of structured coatings was analyzed by optical, scanning electron, and atomic force microscopy, and the water wettability of TiO2 coating grafted with the C16 precursor was studied with respect to NSL features. It is shown that the synergy between the hydrophobicity imparted by the C16 precursor and roughness effects arising from NSL structuration leads to superhydrophobic coatings. In optimized conditions, the static contact angle of 11.6μL water droplets deposited on the surface is around 160° with a corresponding tilt angle as low as 1°. •TiO2 sol–gel films have been structured by polystyrene nanosphere lithography.•A superhydrophilic pre-layer greatly enhances the uniformity of structured films.•Structuration features lead to highly rough films.•Structured films have been hydrophobized using a non-fluorinated C16 compound.•C16 and structuration effects act in synergy to yield superhydrophobic coatings.
ISSN:0039-6028
1879-2758
DOI:10.1016/j.susc.2013.07.002