Branched Hydrocarbon Low Surface Energy Materials for Superhydrophobic Nanoparticle Derived Surfaces

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 660 - 666
• Main Authors: Alexander, Shirin, Eastoe, Julian, Lord, Alex M, Guittard, Frédéric, Barron, Andrew R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 13.01.2016; Washington, D.C. : American Chemical Society
• Subjects: Chemical Sciences; Material chemistry; low surface energy materials; alumina nanoparticles; fluorinated acids; superhydrophobic hydrocarbon surfaces; hyperbranched carboxylic acids
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b09784

We present a new class of superhydrophobic surfaces created from low-cost and easily synthesized aluminum oxide nanoparticles functionalized carboxylic acids having highly branched hydrocarbon (HC) chains. These branched chains are new low surface energy materials (LSEMs) which can replace environmentally hazardous and expensive fluorocarbons (FCs). Regardless of coating method and curing temperature, the resulting textured surfaces develop water contact angles (θ) of ∼155° and root-mean-square roughnesses (R q) ≈ 85 nm, being comparable with equivalent FC functionalized surfaces (θ = 157° and R q = 100 nm). The functionalized nanoparticles may be coated onto a variety of substrates to generate different superhydrophobic materials.