Intrinsically superhydrophobic organosilica sol-gel foams

Shirtcliffe, Neil, McHale, Glen, Newton, Michael and Perry, Carole (2003) Intrinsically superhydrophobic organosilica sol-gel foams. Langmuir, 19 (14). pp. 5626-5631. ISSN 0743-7463

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Abstract

Intrinsically superhydrophobic foams with contact angles greater than 150 degrees were prepared using a sol-gel phase-separation process. Hydrophobicity was built in by using organofunctionalized inorganic monomers and setting the conditions so that they were retained in the product. The materials were characterized by advancing and receding water contact angle measurements, scanning electron microscopy, and infrared spectroscopy. The sol-gel phase-separation preparation method used was simple and produced roughness and hydrophobicity in the same material, thus obviating the need for a hydrophobic coating to achieve superhydrophobicity. Superhydrophobicity was retained when the materials were cut or abraded. On heating, a rapid hydrophobic to hydrophilic transition was present at around 400 degrees C, generating a material that absorbed water rapidly. "Flat" sol-gel materials prepared without phase separation treated in the same manner showed a more gradual contact angle change, but the switch from hydrophobicity to hydrophilicity also occurred at around 400 degrees C.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sol-gel, wettability, wetting, roughness, superhydrophobic
Subjects:	F100 Chemistry F200 Materials Science F300 Physics
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering
Depositing User:	Glen McHale
Date Deposited:	24 Aug 2012 15:56
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 19:05
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/8349

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