Hydrophobic Materials and Coatings: Principles of Design, Properties and Applications
Hydrophobic Materials and Coatings: Principles of Design, Properties and Applications
Hydrophobic Materials and Coatings: Principles of Design, Properties and Applications
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DOI 10.1070/RC2008v077n07ABEH003775
Contents
I. Introduction 583
II. Factors responsible for wetting of material surface 583
III. Highly hydrophobic state of material surface and wetting hysteresis 587
IV. Methods of preparation of textured superhydrophobic surfaces 591
V. Coating of smooth and textured surfaces with hydrophobic agents 594
VI. Ageing and degradation of superhydrophobic coatings 595
VII. Applications of highly hydrophobic and superhydrophobic materials and coatings 597
VIII. Conclusion 599
Abstract. Theoretical grounds of the design of hydrophobic 1208. Among them, a particular place is occupied by super-
materials and coatings and the specific features of the super- hydrophobic materials and coatings characterised by large
hydrophobic state of the surface are discussed. The possibilities contact angles (>1508) and small slope angles of the surfaces
of the formation of various types of ordered textures that and horizon at which water droplets slide from the surface.
ensure high contact angles on the surfaces of hydrophobic Hydrophobic and superhydrophobic materials possess a
materials and prerequisites for thermodynamic stability of the set of unique functional properties, namely, they are water-
heterogeneous wetting regime of such surfaces are analysed. proof, corrosion-resistant and stable against biofouling and
The main groups of methods actively used now to design inorganic and (in some cases) organic pollutants. The fluid
materials and coatings with specified topology and structure flow near hydrophobic surfaces of such materials occurs with
and variable hydrophobicity are presented. The problems of particular ease. Owing to the variety of functional properties,
ageing and degradation of superhydrophobic coatings are the design of hydrophobic materials and coatings has become
discussed. Examples of successful use of superhydrophobic an individual avenue of modern materials science, which has
materials in various fields of industry are given. The bibliog- been rapidly developing in the Russian Federation and abroad.
raphy includes 111 references.
references. This is accompanied by an increase in the number of publica-
tions concerning specific features of wetting of superhydro-
phobic surfaces, description of new methods of preparation of
I. Introduction textured surfaces, design of novel hydrophobic agents, forma-
Traditionally, by hydrophobic materials are meant materials tion of conditions and compositions for the preparation of
and coatings for which the contact angle of water and aqueous surfaces with switchable wetting.
solutions is larger than 908. A feature of such materials is In this review, we will briefly outline the fundamentals of
instabilty of thin wetting water layers on their surfaces. Hydro- the design of hydrophobic and superhydrophobic materials
phobicity is the property that is determined by the properties and coatings, the effect of the chemical structure and specific
and structure of the near-surface layer a few nanometres thick features of topography on the attainable values of the contact
rather than by the characteristics of the bulk material. There- and sliding angles of liquid drops on the surfaces of such
fore, the design of hydrophobic materials and coatings first of materials. We will also dwell on the most interesting methods
all requires analysis of the processes occurring in nanoscale of the design of materials and nanocoatings with specified
systems, which is a typical problem in nanotechnology. topology, structure and variable hydrophobicity. Data on
Practically interesting highly hydrophobic materials are ageing and degradation of superhydrophobic coatings will be
characterised by the water advancing contact angles exceeding briefly analysed in a separate Section. The most successful
fields of application of such materials are also discussed.
L B Boinovich, A M Emelyanenko A N Frumkin Institute of Physical
Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky II. Factors responsible for wetting of material
prosp. 31, 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation. Fax (7-495) 955 44 43, surface
tel. (7-495) 955 46 25, e-mail: boinovich@mail.ru (L B Boinovich),
ame@phyche.ac.ru (A M Emelyanenko) Thomas Young 1 was the first who considered and described
the forces acting on a liquid drop more than two centuries ago.
Received 21 December 2007 He considered an ideal (chemically inert towards the test
Uspekhi Khimii 77 (7) 619 ± 638 (2008); translated by A M Raevskiy liquid), smooth and homogeneous surface (Fig. 1 a,b). It was
shown that the equilibrium macroscopic contact angle y0
584 L B Boinovich, A M Emelyanenko
c d 50
60
40
40
y y 30
20
20
Figure 1. A droplet on a substrate.
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 x
Smooth hydrophobic substrate (a), smooth hydrophilic substrate (b),
homogeneous wetting on a rough substrate (c) and heterogeneous wetting
on a rough substrate (d ). For notations 1 ± 3, see text; y is the effective Figure 2. Water contact angle (1) and the surface energy (2) of a gold
contact angle. substrate covered with a self-assembled monolayer made of
HS(CH2)15COOH and HS(CH2)17CH3 molecules plotted vs. concentra-
tion of HS(CH2)15COOH (x).4
between the meniscus of the bulk liquid and the substrate is
given by
sufficient to make the surface hydrophobic. Below (see Sec-
s ÿ ssl tion V) we will show that not only the chemical composition of
cos y0 sv , (1)
slv the coating, but also the coating procedure determining the
degree of ordering and orientations of surface molecules
where ssv and ssl are the surface energies at the solid/vapour strongly affect the wettability of materials.
and solid/liquid interfaces, respectively, and slv is the surface Another approach to the description of wetting of smooth
tension of the liquid. Generally, ssv differs from the surface homogeneous surfaces was proposed by Derjaguin and Frum-
energy at the solid/vacuum interface because the solid surface kin. They developed a theory of wetting,6 which makes it
is covered with a thin wetting/adsorption film of the liquid that possible to relate the macroscopic contact angle y0 (see
is in equilibrium with the liquid drop and vapour. Analysis of Fig. 1 b) to the disjoining pressure isotherm P(h), which
Young's relation (1) showed that hydrophobicity can only be characterises the dependence of the forces of the interaction
observed on solid surfaces with low ssv . between phases 1 and 2, which confine the wetting/adsorption
As ssv decreases, the contact angle increases. As an film of liquid 3, on the film thickness h
illustration, Table 1 lists the surface energies and the contact
?
angles on smooth surfaces of some materials. The following 1 1
cos y0 1 P
he he P
hdh & (2)
should be emphasised: the free energy of a surface is deter- slv slv
he
mined by surface forces that rapidly fade towards the interior
of the bulk phase;6 therefore, hydrophobic properties can be
?
imparted to the surface by coating a high-energy surface with a 1
&1 P
hdh,
nanometre-thick layer of an appropriate material. For slv
he
instance, in Fig. 2 the water contact angles and the surface
energy of a gold substrate covered with a self-assembled where he is the equilibrium thickness of the wetting film at the
monolayer made of HS(CH2)15COOH and HS(CH2)17CH3 disjoining pressure equal to the capillary pressure in the drop.
molecules are plotted vs. concentration of HS(CH2)15COOH. The radii of curvature of the meniscus and drops used for
Coating with a monolayer of HS(CH2)17CH3 molecules is experimental measurements of contact angles usually lie
between 1 and 20 mm, which corresponds to the capillary and
Table 1. Surface energies of solids and water advancing angles on smooth disjoining pressures of at most 1 mPa. In this case, the he value
surfaces of some materials. is almost equal to the film thickness h0 corresponding to the
Material Surface energy Contact Ref. zero-disjoining-pressure point in the isotherm (Fig. 3).
/mJ m72 angle /deg Specific features of the three-phase equilibrium were ana-
lysed in numerous studies (see, e.g., Refs 6 ± 8). It was shown
Poly(methylpropenoxy- that wetting depends on the shape of the disjoining pressure
fluoroalkylsiloxane) isotherms (see Fig. 3), which in turn are determined by the
with the number of nature of surface forces acting in the system under study.9 In
CF2 groups (n) particular, for type 1 isotherms the integral in Eqn (2) is
n=3 14.2 105 2 positive. Such isotherms characterise three-phase systems in
n=5 16.4 102.4 2 which complete wetting with the zero contact angle occurs. In
n=7 12.6 106.7 2 these systems, a liquid droplet placed on a substrate will spread
n=9 12.2 109.3 2 in saturated vapour atmosphere with formation of a macro-
Poly(tetrafluoroethylene) 21 110 2, 3 scopically thick film with the zero contact angle. The 2 and type
Octadecanethiol 20 117 4 3 isotherms correspond to partial wetting.
Perfluoroeicosane 6.7 122 5 A basic difference between systems characterised by type 2
and type 3 isotherms is related to specific features of wetting,
Hydrophobic materials and coatings: principles of design, properties and applications 585
Now we will consider conditions for transition from The requirements for surface topography to ensure hetero-
heterogeneous to homogeneous wetting for a rough surface geneous wetting of a substrate on deep immersion are specified
immersed into a bulk liquid. Similar problems arise in the by Eqn (9); they are much more rigorous (due to the last term)
design of materials for, e.g., underwater structures, ship hulls, than those specified by inequality (10); however, the effect of
etc. Thermodynamic consideration of the conditions for the term mentioned above becomes negligible for micrometre-
stability of different wetting regimes on underwater surfaces size grooves.
has some specific features. On the one hand, there is no need of
inclusion of the changes in the energy of the free surface of the III. Highly hydrophobic state of material surface
drop due to the change in the shape of the drop upon the
change in the wetting regime. On the other hand, one should
and wetting hysteresis
take into account the change in the potential energy of the In the preceding Section, we noted that by varying the chemical
system as the air bubbles trapped in the grooves on the surface composition of a material or using various hydrophobising
are replaced by the liquid. agents, one cannot achieve the contact angles larger than 1208
Changes in the free energy of a system comprised of a rough on smooth surfaces. To prepare materials with larger contact
substrate immersed into a liquid on going from homogeneous angles, one should use the combined effect of the surface
to heterogeneous wetting in a single groove are given by roughness and chemical structure. It is `tuning' of the surface
texture that allows superhydrophobic states to be attained.
DG ssv S2 slv S1 ÿ ssl S2 DrgHV (9) Most modern methods make it possible to prepare highly
hydrophobic materials based on disordered surface textures
S2 cos y0 S1 slv DrgHV, (see Section IV). In this case, process conditions for surface
coating or treatment are chosen in the course of lengthy and
where S1 and S2 are the areas of the liquid/gas interface and the laborious experiments. At the same time, such methods, as,
unwetted surface of the groove, respectively (Fig. 5), and H e.g., coating from dispersions, photolithographic and template
and V are respectively the depth of immersion and the groove techniques permit preparation of highly ordered and well
volume (it is assumed that the size of the gas bubble is much controllable surface roughness. Here we will analyse the effect
smaller than the depth of immersion). of parameters of ordered textures on the contact angle and
wetting hysteresis in more detail.
The simplest example to be analysed is a texture based on
pillars or holes that obey an ordered pattern on the surface of a
S1
material. Depending on the method of texturing and template
used,13, 23, 25, 26, 34 ± 40 various shapes of cross-sections of these
structures can be obtained. By varying the height, size and
S2 distance between the elements of the texture one can vary the
surface roughness and contact angle over a wide range. As an
example, Table 2 lists the data taken from Ref. 38 in which the
surface was textured with square pillars of size a = 50 mm
Figure 5. An illustration for calculations of changes in the free energy on separated by the distance b = 100 mm. By varying the height c,
going from homogeneous to heterogeneous wetting in a single groove of a one can both vary the contact angle in the Wenzel regime over a
rough substrate on dipping into the liquid. wide range and attain transition to the Cassie ± Baxter wetting
regime for high roughness determined from the relation
Table 2. Effect of the height of pillars on the wetting regime and contact heterogeneous wetting
angle.
2
1 cos y0
Drop y /deg r c /mm r , (13a)
sin2 y0
p
f p sin2 y0 ; (13b)
2 3
114 1.0 0
homogeneous wetting ( f = 1)
for hemispheres
p
r 1 p , (13c)
2 3
138 1.1 10 for spherical particles
2p
r 1 p . (13d)
3
Dy yadv ÿ yrec ,
150
3 mm
130
c
110
1
90 2
20 nm
70
50
20 mm 160
Figure 8. Surface textures: the leaf of lotus Nelumbo nucifeara at differ- 130
ent magnification (a, b) 46 and the legs of water strider Gerris hemigis (c).31
100
almost all superhydrophobic surfaces based on both artificial
disordered textures and textured natural materials (Fig. 8) are
characterised by multimodal roughness. 70
Up to this point we have discussed the effect of specific
features of textures on the contact angle. However, the most 1
attractive for practical use are those superhydrophobic materi- 40 2
als that are characterised by not only large advancing contact
angles, but also small sliding angles, a, of liquid drops (see
Introduction). It is the small value of the angle a that 10
unambiguously points to predominance of heterogeneous r (rel.u.)
wetting where the surface area of the substrate ± water contact Figure 9. Effect of roughness on the receding angle (1 ) and advancing
is minimal. The angle a is first of all determined by the mass of angle (2) on the surface covered with fluorocarbon (a) and paraffin (b)
the drop and by the contact angle hysteresis defined as the waxes.
Hydrophobic materials and coatings: principles of design, properties and applications 591
Ð coating with films of sublimation materials;62, 63 ces CF2 radicals, which undergo polymerisation and form a
Ð electrodeposition and electrochemical deposition of thin poly(tetrafluoroethylene) layer on the nanotube surface.
nanoparticles and films followed by treatment with hydro- Once these procedures completed, the advancing and receding
phobic materials;64, 65 contact angles on the surfaces coated with the `forest' of
Ð use of organic and inorganic fillers with multimodal hydrophobised nanotubes can be as large as 170 and 1608,
particle size distribution for particles in the matrix of the respectively.
hydrophobic material;42 ± 44, 66 ± 71 An interesting example of attainment of the superhydro-
Ð template methods for preparation of rough surfaces phobic state by substrates of different nature using plasma
with subsequent removal of templates and treatment with etching was reported by Woodward et al.10 A silicon (or
hydrophobic materials;72 ± 76 potassium bromide) substrate was coated with a polybutadiene
Ð controllable aggregation of nanoparticles on the sur- film in toluene solution and annealed to remove traces of the
face, which leads to multimodal roughness, followed by treat- solvent. Then the sample was placed in a vacuum chamber
ment with hydrophobic materials;12 (261074 atm) filled with carbon tetrafluoride and an electric
Ð photolithographic techniques followed by treatment discharge was switched on. This treatment gave a rough
with hydrophobic materials;13, 23, 25, 26, 39, 40 and surface of the polybutadiene film, and fluorination of the
Ð etching of the surface of materials followed by treatment surface layer occurred simultaneously. The degree of rough-
with hydrophobic materials.77, 78 ness depended on the discharge power (Fig. 12) and on the time
Now we will consider specific features of different techni- of exposure to the discharge. The superhydrophobic state
ques in more detail taking some studies cited above as required that the root-mean-square roughness be at least
examples. 46.5 nm. The maximum water contact angle on this surface
Plasma-assisted chemical deposition of carbon nanotubes was 1758 and wetting hysteresis was at most 18.
was used for texturing the surface of silicon covered with oxide
film.54 The two main steps of the process include coating of a a b
substrate with a catalyst (in the form of nickel islets) by melting
a thin nickel film and growth of carbon nanotubes on the nickel
islets in d.c. plasma discharge (acetylene/ammonia gas mix-
ture) at a pressure of 4 mm Hg. Plasma-assisted chemical
depositon provides the desired orientation of nanotubes (nor-
mal to the substrate). The diameter and number of nanotubes
per unit surface area are specified by the size and distribution of
the catalyst islets, while the height is proportional to the
5 mm 5 mm
deposition time. The texture thus prepared exhibits reasonable
homogeneity with respect to the distribution of nanotubes over
the substrate surface; the shorter the nanotubes the better the c d
homogeneity with respect to height (Fig. 11). However, the
contact angles of water droplets on the nanotube textured
surfaces lie between 84 and 868. In particular, it is the fact that
the contact angles are smaller than 908 that is responsible for
the possibility of water condensation to occur in the space
between nanotubes on thermal equilibrium. Here, the capillary
effects cause single nanotubes to form bundles,54 which has a
negative effect on the operating properties of nanotubes. 5 mm 5 mm
Subsequent treatment of the surface of carbon nanotubes also
makes use of chemical vapour deposition, namely, thermally
activated decomposition of hexafluoropropylene oxide produ- e f
a b
50 nm
5 mm 5 mm
Figure 12. AFM height images of the surface of a polybutadiene film after
plasma etching (CF4 atmosphere, duration = 5 min) at plasma discharge
1 mm 1 mm power of 0 (a), 10 (b), 20 (c), 30 (d ), 40 (e), 80 W ( f ).10
Figure 11. SEM images of a surface covered with carbon nanotubes.54 Coating of the surface of glass with films of sublimation
Non-hydrophobised surface (a) and the hydrophobised surface coated materials containing titania inclusions 62, 63 allowed three prac-
with poly(tetrafluoroethylene) obtained by chemical vapour deposition tically important problems to be solved at once, namely, to
during thermal decomposition of hexafluoropropylene oxide (b). attain the superhydrophobic state, to retain transparency of
the coated glass and to perform photocatalytic cleaning of the
Hydrophobic materials and coatings: principles of design, properties and applications 593
surface when operating in air. Figure 13 presents a flow grooves on the final texture. The texture is made hydrophobic
diagram of the process 62, 63 of preparation of similar hydro- by treatment with hydrophobic materials with low surface
phobic films based on aluminium hydroxide or silica. energy. In particular, the surface of a textured silicon wafer was
coated (by adsorption from vapour phase) with methylated or
fluorinated organosilane layers.13 The advancing contact
Al(C5H7O2)3 TiO(C5H7O2)2 AlO2H C2H5OH angles on such surfaces were as large as 1768; however, a large
hysteresis was observed, which strongly depended on the shape
of the cross-section of pillars (Table 3). A drawback of photo-
Sonication of a suspension lithographic techniques is that this is applicable only to small
surface areas. In addition, textures with pillars are mechan-
ically unstable, which also reduces the field of application.
Spin-coating on a substrate at 1500 rpm Structures with grooves are mechanically more stable but
inappropriate for attainment of the superhydrophobic state.
Five cycles
Calcination at 500 8C for 20 s
Table 3. Contact angles on surfaces textured using variously shaped pillars
of height 40 mm and hydrophobised with dichlorodimethylsilane.13
Coating with a hydrophobising reagent
Pillar shape and Texture Contact angle /deg
arrangement parameters
Drying at 140 8C for 1 h advancing receding
x
Transparent superhydrophobic coating x/2 staggered 176 156
rhombus
Figure 13. Flow diagram of the processing of titania-containing trans- 4x pillars,
parent superhydrophobic coating.62 x = 8 mm
2x
Titanium acetylacetonate, which undergoes thermal
decomposition with the formation of titania, is mixed with x
aluminium hydroxide or silica powder, aluminium acetylacet- x
onate Al(C5H7O2)3 and ethanol to produce a suspension. 2x star-like 175 149
Sonication of the suspension leads to homogeneous distribu- pillars,
tion of components and dissolution of Al(C5H7O2)3 . The x = 8 mm
suspension is coated on a glass substrate and dried at room
temperature to afford a matt coating. Short-term heat treat-
ment of the coated substrate at 500 8C causes decomposition of 2x
titanium acetylacetonate, sublimation of Al(C5H7O2)3 and x
enhancement of film transparency. The transparency of this
system in the visible spectral region strongly depends on both x
the surface roughness due to sublimation and the content of 2x indented 175 143
titania. The coating, drying and calcination of suspension are square pillars,
repeated several times until uniform coating of the substrate is x = 8 mm
achieved. Hydrophobic properties are imparted to the coating
by storing samples in a solution of heptadecafluorodecyltri- 2x
methoxysilane in methanol at room temperature for 1 h and
subsequent drying at 140 8C also for 1 h. Studies of the x
coatings thus prepared revealed a small loss of hydrophobicity x square pillars,
after long-term operation of the films containing TiO2 (2 mass 2x x = 16 mm 173 134
%); these films also exhibited photocatalytical self-cleaning of x = 23 mm 175 146
the surface and high transparency (*90%) throughout the x = 32 mm 173 154
visible spectral region. x = 56 mm 121 67
Recently, template methods of surface texturing have
2x
become popular.13, 23, 25, 26, 39, 40 This makes it possible to
prepare both surfaces covered with pillars and porous sub-
strates with a regular system of grooves. The advantage of
these methods is the possibility of controllable variation of not Template methods are widely used in nanotechnologies,
only the density, but also the size of grooves and pillars. but template-based design of superhydrophobic surfaces of
Usually, the preparation of textured surfaces by these techni- materials is in the early stage of its development. For instance,
ques involves a number of steps.13 First, the substrate surface is bimodal roughness on glass substrates was formed using the
covered with a photoresist layer. Then, a template is made on template technique.72 A monolayer of spherical polystyrene
the photoresist surface using a contact lithographic mask/ latex beads 5 mm in diameter used as the template was
pattern prepared with a high-resolution printer or using an suspension coated on the substrate by spin coating. The
electron beam. The template is transferred to the substrate monolayer was impregnated with a silver acetate (AgOAc)
using chemical etching; the duration and regime of this solution by capillary forces and a thin AgOAc layer was
procedure determine the height of pillars or the depth of formed after subsequent drying of the lower surface of the
594 L B Boinovich, A M Emelyanenko
latex particles. Subsequent slow heating at 360 8C for 3 h led to presence of dichlorodimethylsilane on the surface of a glass
thermal decomposition of AgOAc and formation of silver substrate was followed by their aggregation. The shape of
nanoparticles and their sintering, the template being removed aggregates strongly depended on the structure of the substrate.
simultaneously. The structure thus fabricated (Fig. 14) has a For instance, an islet-shoped film made of aggregated particles
bimodal roughness with the characteristic size of silver nano- was formed on a smooth surface, while the deposition after
particles of 150 nm (mean size) and 5 mm. The water contact preliminary polishing of the surface gave a uniform distribu-
angle on this textured surface reached a value of 1698 after tion of the aggregated particles across the substrate surface
coating with a hexadecanethiol monolayer. with two characteristic roughness intervals, 0.2 ± 1 mm and
40 ± 80 nm. To impart hydrophobic properties to the texture
thus prepared, its surface was coated with a polymeric film of a
a commercial hydrophobising reagent FC735 (blend of a fluo-
roacrylate polymer and fluoroalkyl ethers). It should be noted
that the superhydrophobic state of the substrate was attained
only in the case of uniform distribution of the aggregated
particles across the substrate surface; the advancing contact
angle was 1708 and hysteresis was at most 28.
The promise of the methods of preparation of superhydro-
phobic coatings based on the use of organic and inorganic
fillers with multimodal particle size distribution is first of all
due to the relative technological simplicity of coating of large
5 mm
surface areas. In addition, one can use composites; this makes
it possible not only to impart hydrophobic properties to the
b surface of the texture, but also to chemically bind it to the
substrate surface, which makes the hydrophobic coating more
stable under the operating conditions.
Summing up, emphasise again that the key requirements
for textures used to attain the superhydrophobic state of
surfaces of materials include the maintenance of multimodal
roughness of the surface and mechanical strength of the
texture.
librium character of the coating structure and its homogeneity value of Young contact angle. For instance, for a gold
with respect to thickness and the chemical composition.80, 81 substrate coated with alkanethiols by adsorption from solu-
Adsorption from solutions or vapour phase is mainly used tions, the contact angle on the surface of the coating can be as
for preparation of monolayered hydrophobic coatings based large as 115 ± 1168, being only 100 ± 1108 when using the dip
on, e.g., self-assembled monolayers. Specific features and coating technique. The contact angles on fluorinated chlorosi-
problems that arise when using this technique have been lane monolayers coated using different techniques also vary
discussed in literature;83 ± 89 therefore, we will not dwell on from 100 to 1148. Here, the problem of choice of the method for
them. We only point that the quality of the coating, its spatial applying hydrophobic coatings to attain the superhydrophobic
homogeneity and roughness of the coated substrate depend to state arises naturally. Analysis of experimental data on the
a great extent on the solvent used and the presence of water in contact angles on hydrophobised textured substrates showed
the solvent, on the surface and in the surrounding atmosphere, that small variations of the Young angle do not preclude the
as well as the temperature and pretreatment of the substrate obtaining of the effective contact angles larger than 1508 on
surface. The contact angle attainable on a particular surface textures with multimodal roughness. However, obtaining
upon adsorption of a hydrophobising monolayer strongly small sliding angles for drops on such hydrophobic surfaces
depends on the density and regularity of the packing of the in each particular case requires thorough choice of the coating
monolayer. Usually, self-assembled monolayers have many technique that provides the chemical and structural homoge-
structural defects that deteriorate the hydrophobic properties. neity of the coating. Yet another prerequisite for hydrophobic
A method of preparation of mechanically assembled mono- coatings is their chemical stability and wear resistance, because
layers on relatively smooth surfaces, for which the contact it is these properties that are responsible for long operating life
angle reached a value of 1308, was proposed.87 Figure 15 of the coatings.
schematically shows the necessary process steps. A polydime-
thylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate (1 ) is pre-stretched (2) and VI. Ageing and degradation of superhydrophobic
exposed to ozone and UV irradiation to produce surface
hydroxyl groups (3). In the next step (4) the surface is coated
coatings
with a self-assembling chlorosilane monolayer by adsorption The ability of hydrophobic and superhydrophobic materials to
from the vapour phase. After stress relief, a closely packed retain hydrophobic properties under operating conditions is of
monolayer of grafted molecules is formed on the substrate (5); paramount importance when assessing potential fields of their
the number of structural defects in the monolayer is much application. Clearly, the ageing and degradation (loss of
smaller than in the self-assembled monolayer on the non- hydrophobic properties) are governed by both the properties
pretreated substrate. The coating thus prepared is character- of the coating and specific features of the operating conditions
ised by the largest contact contact angle for smooth surfaces. and the character of its interaction with the environment.
The evaporating droplet technique is the fastest and Unfortunately, the problem of durability of hydrophobic
simplest. It can be used for rough assessment of the properties materials has not been cosidered in detail in the literature. In
of coatings. A drop of a solution (dispersion) containing a this Section we will briefly outline a number of studies on the
hydrophobising reagent is placed on the surface of a substrate subject.
where it spontaneously spills over. Films thus prepared usually When materials are used in air, the loss of hydrophobic
have different thickness at different points and inhomogeneous properties is due to atmospheric pollution. Usually, surfaces
chemical composition even if the substrate is completely wetted become significantly more hydrophilic upon deposition of dust
by the solution or dispersion. Similarly to the methods men- and organic chemicals. To reduce this effect, it was proposed 62
tioned above, here the properties of the coating depend on the to add titania to the hydrophobising coatings for glass ele-
state of the surface, the solvent used, the temperature and ments of buildings. Titania possesses photocatalytic activity
humidity. Nevertheless, in some cases simplicity of the techni- and organic residues exposed to UV radiation in the presence
que plays the determining role, because it allows the chemical of TiO2 are oxidised to CO2 . Outdoor exposure tests of
composition, solvent, temperature, etc. to be chosen with ease coatings with different content of titania were carried out in
in the design of novel coatings.45 Tokyo (Japan) in winter at a height of 20 m from the ground
Coatings prepared by the methods considered above usu- level. The tests showed that degradation of the coatings caused
ally differ not only in thickness, but also in the degree of by stains occurs much more slowly in the presence of small
ordering and orientation of molecules. This in turn affects the amounts of TiO2 (*2 mass %) and faster in the presence of
UV irradiation
and ozone
Dx treatment
PDMS
1 2 3 4 5
Figure 15. Process steps leading to production of mechanically assembled monolayer.87 For notations (1 ± 5), see text.
596 L B Boinovich, A M Emelyanenko
larger content of titania (Fig. 16). At the optimal concentra- Ageing of superhydrophobic anticorrosion coatings with
tion of TiO2 , the water contact angle decreased from 150 to different compositions on the carbon steel surface was
1408 after 75 days (cf. the range from 1488 to 1008 for the studied.66 The surface of a steel sample was coated with either
hydrophobic coating with no TiO2 additives). a layer of Ni7P composite or a phosphate film with complex
chemical composition to provide corrosion resistance and
specify the topography. Then the dip coating technique was
y /deg
used to coat the corrosion resistant layer with a solution of a
160 hydrophobising reagent that contained a fluoride latex and the
system was heated at 150 ± 200 8C for 1 ± 2 h. The contact
angles on the freshly prepared coatings based on the phosphate
120
film were in the interval 155 ± 1688 and changed only slightly on
storage under laboratory conditions. For instance, the contact
80 angle on these films decreased by *38 after 45 days, while the
1 sliding angle considerably increased from 2 ± 3 to 15 ± 208.
2 Storage of the coatings in water led to a decrease in the contact
3
40 angle by 48 after 24 h and by 68 after 48 h. The sliding angle
increased by 28 after 48 h. The results of water erosion test and
the character of the interaction of the samples with 0.5% NaCl
0 solution showed that the coatings with superhydrophobic
500 1000 1500
surface layer exhibited much better corrosion resistance com-
Time /h pared to the coatings having no hydrophobic layer.
Superhydrophobic surfaces with multimodal roughness
Figure 16. Changes in contact angle on the surface coated with a compo- (Fig. 17) can be prepared by coating various materials with a
site alumina/titania hydrophobising film plotted vs. film exposure time textured system based on silica nanoparticles treated with
under atmospheric conditions.62
TiO2 content /mass %: 0 (1), 2 (2) and 20 (3).
a
961.71 nm
fluoroxyaminosilanes. Tests for retention of superhydropho- larger than 1568 and the sliding angle of water is *48. At the
bic properties of these coatings revealed a decrease in the same time the surface remained oleophilic. Water ± oil emul-
contact angle from 158 to 1568 after storage under atmospheric sion in this sieve was rapidly separated, because oil droplets
conditions for 60 days, while the sliding angle of the drop passed through the openings in the sieve to the lower tank.
remained unchanged (*58). The results of investigations of the Textile fibres with nanostructured surface are suitable for
dynamics of hydrophobicity loss on long-term contact with production of hydrophobic cloth based on cotton fibres 91 and
water suggest that the coating prepared provides contact manufacturing of self-cleaning ties and shirts (no wash is
angles that are larger than 1508 and completely protects the required).92
surface from water for 10 ± 15 h. However, the hydrophobic The use of superhydrophobic coatings in electrical engi-
properties of the surface are little changed even on longer time neering appeared to be highly efficient. For instance, coating
of contact with water. For instance, the contact angle on the conductors of power lines with superhydrophobic films con-
coating decreased by 188 over a period of 48 h. Tests of the siderably reduced the noise due to corona discharges produced
same coatings in salt, weakly acidic and weakly alkaline by water drops on the surface of conductors.93
solutions revealed slight changes in the degree of hydropho- We have developed hydrophobic coatings with multimodal
bicity over a period of 2 ± 4 h of continuous contact with the roughness for the surface of silicon insulators for high-voltage
solution (Fig. 18). power lines. This makes it possible to significantly reduce the
intensity of the interaction of the material of the insulator with
atmospheric precipitates and, therefore, to reduce the leakage
y /deg
currents flowing across the surface of the insulators.45
165 Now we will dwell on the use of textured hydrophobic
materials as adaptive materials that can change their properties
under the action of external factors. The chemical properties
160 and wetting of such materials can vary upon irradiation,94 ± 96
1
2 in an electric field,97 ± 99 on heat treatment,100 treatment with
3 solutions 61, 101 and as a result of change in the pH value.64
155
Reversible changes in the wetting properties of surfaces
from superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity (Fig. 19) on
exposure to UV radiation were observed for zinc,55, 103 ± 105
150
titanium,106 ± 108 tin 109 and tungsten 110 oxides. They were used
by researchers from PPG Industries (USA) and Pilkington
0 2000 4000 t /s
(UK) for fabrication of self-cleaning glasses. There are two
mechanisms of self-cleaning. In the daytime, exposure to UV
Figure 18. Dynamics of changes in the contact angle of aqueous solution
droplets on the surface covered with a textured superhydrophobic coat-
ing.45 y /deg a
Alkaline solution with pH 7.45 (1), 0.5 M solution NaCl (2) acid solution
with pH 6 (3). 120
1
It should be noted that on prolonged contact the hydro- 80 2
phobic coating reacts with water the degree of the reaction 3
being dependent on the chemical structure of the hydrophobis-
ing reagent. Therefore, a prerequisite for extension of the
40
durability of a hydrophobic coating is minimisation of the
surface area of the contact with the liquid. This can be attained
in the case of heterogeneous wetting.
0
20 40 60 80 t /min
VII. Applications of highly hydrophobic
and superhydrophobic materials and coatings y /deg b
120
Hydrophobic materials are widely used at present. Now we will
give a few examples of the use of materials the hydrophobic
and superhydrophobic properties of which are attained by
choosing the chemical composition of the surface and specific 80
texturing.
Treatment of the surface of satellite antennas with super-
hydrophobic coatings developed by researchers at NTT 40
(Japan) led to significant reduction of the adhesion of snow
to metallic antenna surfaces 89 and, as a consequence, the
number of satellite communications' breakdown events
0
decreased. 2 4 6 8 10 t /days
An efficient device for separation of aqueous and oil phases
was made using tailored textured coatings on microsieves 90 Figure 19. Time dependences of contact angle of ZnO surface exposed to
The operation of such sieves is based on the use of strongly UV radiation with a light intensity of 0.1 (1), 2.0 (2) and 50 mW cm72 (3)
different contact angles of water and oil on the surface of the (a) and on storage of the irradiated samples in the dark (b).102
sieve. For instance, the advancing contact angle of water is
598 L B Boinovich, A M Emelyanenko
a b
O O
H H H H
O O O O H N H N
N H N H
H H
N N O O
heating
cooling O O
H H H H
O O O O H N H N
N H N H
H H
N N O O
Figure 20. Reversible conformational transition with formation of stretched (a) and helical (b) conformations of poly(N-isopropylacetamide) chains on
heating and cooling.
radiation causes (i) photocatalytic decomposition of organic molecules grafted to the surface (Fig. 20). It was shown 100
and (ii) hydrophilisation of the surface due to additional that this conformational transition on heating causes contact
adsorption of water molecules initiated by radiation. Stains angle on the PNIPAAm-coated surface to change from 63 to
are washed out from such surfaces either by rain or by artificial 938. By texturing the surface with micrometre-size grooves, it is
irrigation. Storage of the surface in the dark for some time possible to induce the transition from superhydrophobicity to
recovers the superhydrophobic state and the second mecha- superhydrophilicity with very small wetting hysteresis. The
nism operates; it is associated with absorption of stains having system is characterised by multiple cycling of the wetting
weak adhesion to glass by water drops sliding across the regimes without degradation of coatings (Fig. 21).
superhydrophobic surface. Here, the contact angle decreased
on exposure to UV radiation from 109 to 108 on smooth ZnO
a
surface and from 163 to 08 on the textured surface. y /deg
Photoswitchable wetting has found an interesting applica- 160
tion in microfluidics and in organic synthesis. Namely, a
macroscopic motion of small liquid droplets across a photo-
120
sensitive surface used for the delivery of components to the
reaction zone can be driven by irradiation.94 A monolayer
based on azobenzene derivatives made the surface photo- 80
sensitive. UV irradiation of the surface at l = 360 nm caused 1
photoisomerisation with an increase in the proportion of cis- 40 2
isomers, which impart the hydrophilic properties to the sur-
face. Irradiation with blue light at l = 436 nm caused cis ± 0
trans-isomerisation and the surface returned to the hydro- 20 30 40 T / 8C
phobic state. If a droplet a few millimetres in size is placed on b
such a surface and asymmetrical (with respect to the wave- y /deg
length) illumination is created, the surface energy difference 160
50 8C
between different points along the perimeter is sufficient for the
droplet to move. This motion can be controlled with high
120
accuracy.
Yet another application of photoswitchable wetting was
proposed.111 The surface of nanoporous aluminium mem- 80
branes was modified with a mixture of spiropyran and hydro-
phobic molecules. A non-illuminated membrane contained the 40
non-polar form of spiropyran, which ensured nonwetting of
the membrane by aqueous solutions. On UV irradiation,
0
spiropyran undergoes transition to the polar merocyanine 20 8C
form and the water molecules and dissolved ions can pass
0 4 8 12 16 20
across the membrane. Thus, the membrane operates as a
photosensitive valve, which switches the water and ion trans- Number of cycles
port and changes the ionic conductivity.
Figure 21. Temperature dependence of the water contact angle on
Temperature-switchable wetting observed in a number of
PNIPAAm film (a) and cyclic switching between wetting regimes on a
systems characterised by the lower critical solution temper- textured surface on heating and cooling (b).100
ature can be employed to preclude biofouling of surfaces. The Smooth surface (1 ) and textured surface with micrometre-size grooves (2).
best studied polymer possessing this property is poly(N-iso- Arrows denote the directions of changes in the angle y due to surface
propylacetamide) (PNIPAAm). The wetting transition is asso- texturing.
ciated with conformational changes in the PNIPAAm
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