Stable Superhydrophobic Coatings from Polyelectrolyte Multilayers

Zhai, Lei; Cebeci, Fevzi Çakmak; Cohen, Robert E.; Rubner, Michael F.

doi:10.1021/nl049463j

Cited by 882 publications

(634 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…1(b)]. 24,25 As long as the last layer is hydrophobic, or a hydrophobic capping layer is used, superhydrophobicity will appear after enough cycles. This is a simple method for research, being useable wherever the starting materials can be obtained.…”

Section: Layer-by-layer Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The superhydrophobicity of polymer surfaces: Recent developments

Shirtcliffe

McHale

Newton

2011

J Polym Sci B Polym Phys

168

108

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Superhydrophobicity is the extreme water repellence of highly textured surfaces. The field of superhydrophobicity research has reached a stage where huge numbers of candidate treatments have been proposed and jumps have been made in theoretically describing them. There now seems to be a move to more practical concerns and to considering the demands of individual applications instead of more general cases. With these developments, polymeric surfaces with their huge variety of properties have come to the fore and are fast becoming the material of choice for designing, developing, and producing superhydrophobic surfaces.

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Section: Layer-by-layer Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The superhydrophobicity of polymer surfaces: Recent developments

Shirtcliffe

McHale

Newton

2011

J Polym Sci B Polym Phys

168

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…[1h] The use of the layer-by-layer sequential adsorption [2] method for the assembly of an ultrathin film has very recently been reported for making ultrahydrophobic surfaces. [3,4] These studies address the critical issue of inducing surface roughness, which is required for true ultrahydrophobic behavior. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Soeno et al [3] described a multilayered polyelectrolyte/silica nanoparticle system which was heated to sinter the particles and burn off the polymer, then treated with a fluorosilane to induce the required hydrophobicity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrophobic and Ultrahydrophobic Multilayer Thin Films from Perfluorinated Polyelectrolytes

2005

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Interest in surfaces exhibiting large water contact angles is stimulated both by important technological implications and by novel aspects of surface physics. Since wetting can be controlled by a single monolayer of material, novel materials or surface treatments can yield a fascinating range of properties. Such treatments, which are capable of generating particularly hydrophobic surfaces, include conventional coating processes such as spraying or dipping, [1a] vacuum deposition techniques, [1b] and such surface-modification technologies as diffusion, [1c] laser and plasma processes, [1d] chemical plating, [1e] grafting [1f] or bonding hydrogel encapsulation, [1g] and bombardment with high-energy particles. [1h] The use of the layer-by-layer sequential adsorption [2] method for the assembly of an ultrathin film has very recently been reported for making ultrahydrophobic surfaces. [3,4] These studies address the critical issue of inducing surface roughness, which is required for true ultrahydrophobic behavior. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Soeno et al. [3] described a multilayered polyelectrolyte/silica nanoparticle system which was heated to sinter the particles and burn off the polymer, then treated with a fluorosilane to induce the required hydrophobicity. Zhai et al. [4] reported the formation of a pH-sensitive multilayer which undergoes a porosity-inducing phase transition in acidic solutions. Additional treatment steps, including crosslinking, deposition of silica nanoparticles, fluorosilane treatment, and thermal annealing, yielded stable ultrahydrophobic materials. Although the targeted surface properties were obtained, multiple processing steps are not desirable. Herein, we describe a multilayering process that uses both fluorinated polyanions and polycations, with a roughening step, by utilizing a naturally occurring nanorod that can be inserted conveniently into the layering sequence.The polyelectrolytes used were nafion (Scheme 1), which is a commercially available sulfonated fluorinated material, and a polycation synthesized from poly(vinylpyridine) and a fluorinated alkyl iodide. Polyelectrolyte components were deposited on silicon wafers under ambient conditions using dilute solutions/dispersions. Although fluorinated solvents, such as trifluoroethanol, were useful for dispersing the polyelectrolytes, we were interested in employing more common solvents as vehicles for manipulating all the components. Methanol was effective in this respect. Figure 1 shows the layer-by-layer build-up of the fluorinated polyelectrolytes. The regular growth of the multilayer alleviated our concerns that the polyelectrolytes, probably existing as micellar, nanoparticulate dispersions rather than true solutions, might not produce acceptable multilayering behavior. Some curvature of the build-up curve hints at exponential growth (a topic of recent interest [16,17] ), but the fact that such curvature is so slight suggests it might result from increasing surface roughness, which was found to be 2.9, 3.2...

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“…The multilayering technique does not offer the precision and reproducibility of conventional inorganic film preparation techniques. It is, however, simple, versatile, and offers the possibility of combining unique structures and functionalities (for instance, it has been used to create superhydrophobic surfaces [Zhai et al, 2004], to make azo photochromic hollow shells [Jung et al, 2002], and is amenable to patterning [Nyamjav and Ivanisevic, 2004]). Although it is unlikely to replace established techniques for high performance devices, it may find applications in certain niches (coatings, disposable electronics, biomedical devices, etc.…”

Section: Polyelectrolyte Multilayersmentioning

confidence: 99%