| AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session NS-TuP |
| Session: | Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Poster Session |
| Presenter: | S. Olveira, University of Zurich, Switzerland |
| Authors: | S. Olveira, University of Zurich, Switzerland S. Seeger, University of Zurich, Switzerland |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Artificial superhydrophobic surfaces have generated considerable attention in the last two decades due to their significant potential for industrial and scientific applications. We introduced silicone nanofilaments (SNF) which grow on a variety of technologically important substrates via a convenient gas or solvent phase process. Coated substrates exhibited superhydrophobic behavior with contact angles higher than 160°. The simple one step production process includes only low cost starting materials and is ecologically friendly because it does not contain any fluorine compounds. Therefore it is of high interest for industrial applications. Until recently a drawback of the process was the release of hydrochloric acid which restricts the coating to acid-resistant substrates. Therefore we developed a similar solvent phase coating procedure using different starting materials to reduce the acid formation tremendously. Acid sensitive substrates were coated with SNF and also Silicone Nanotubes (SNT) without any damages to the material. In particular modified surfaces covered with homogenous SNT showed extreme water repellent properties with contact angles over 175° and sliding angles below 4°. The nanotubes were up to several micrometers long with diameters between 80 - 100 nm and channel diameters between 10-20 nm (Fig.1). This new acid-reduced process extends the number of materials suitable for superhydrophobic coating. Furthermore a convenient gas phase process for the fabrication of SNT-modified surfaces was developed. The process includes chemical vapor deposition at room temperature. The structure of the tubes can be easily controlled by adjusting the relative humidity in the reaction chamber. Such surfaces showed also superhydrophobic properties with contact angle higher than 179° and sliding angles below 1°. To the best of our knowledge the production of silicone nanotubes is reported for the first time. This new structures opens the opportunities in the field of silicone chemistry and might be of interest for potential applications.