Formation of SiO2/polytetrafluoroethylene hybrid superhydrophobic coating

• Published in: Applied surface science 2012-10, Vol.258 (24), p.9859-9863
• Main Authors: Zheng, Yansheng, He, Yi, Qing, Yongquan, Zhuo, Zhihao, Mo, Qian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coating; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Contact angle; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Hydrophobicity; Micro- and nanoscale structures; Nanostructure; Physics; Polytetrafluoroethylenes; Scanning electron microscopy; Silicon dioxide; SiO2 sol; Sol gel process; Superhydrophobic coating; Surface energy; Water contact angle
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2012.06.043

► The coating showed the water contact angle of 165° and the water sliding angle of 6°. ► The hierarchical structure with the low surface energy leads to surface superhydrophobicity. ► We demonstrated a simple yet efficient approach to preparing superhydrophobic surface. Superhydrophobic coating has been fabricated on the glass substrates with modified SiO2 sol and polytetrafluoroethylene emulsion through a sol–gel process. SiO2 sol was modified with γ-glycidoxypropyl trimethoxysilane. The coatings were characterized by water contact angle measurement, Scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and thermal synthetic analysis. The experimental results show that coatings exhibited superhydrophobic and heat-resistant property with a water average contact angle of 156° and sliding angle of 6°, coating has a rough surface with both micro- and nanoscale structures, γ-glycidoxypropyl trimethoxysilane enhanced the hydrophobicity of the coatings. Low surface energy of polymer and special structure of the coatings were responsible for the hydrophobic of the surfaces.