Superhydrophobicity from composite nano/microstructures: Carbon fabrics coated with silica nanoparticles

Abstract This study demonstrates the hydrophobic coating of silica nanoparticles onto microscaled carbon fabrics (CFs) and investigates the superhydrophobic behavior of composite nano/microstructures. The two-tier composite surfaces are based on regularly ordered carbon fibers (8–10 µm in diameter) that are coated with SiO 2 nanoparticles with an average size of 300–500 nm. The microscale fiber is used here as the primary surface roughness, while the silica nanoparticles serve as the secondary roughness, mimicking the lotus leaf in nature. Increasing the density of silica on CFs showed significant effects on the enhancement of static contact angle, decrease of contact angle hysteresis, and superhydrophobic stability. The results can be attributed to the fact that the higher density of silica coating results in more tortuous three-phase contact line, thus facilitating the self-cleaning effect.

[1]  Jin Zhai,et al.  Superhydrophobic Aligned Polystyrene Nanotube Films with High Adhesive Force , 2005 .

[2]  Jingxia Wang,et al.  Fine Control of the Wettability Transition Temperature of Colloidal‐Crystal Films: From Superhydrophilic to Superhydrophobic , 2007 .

[3]  Chung-Yuan Mou,et al.  Fabrication of Tunable Superhydrophobic Surfaces by Nanosphere Lithography , 2004 .

[4]  H. Teng,et al.  Influence of the semiconducting properties of a current collector on the electric double layer formation on porous carbon. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[5]  Alexander Eychmüller,et al.  Self-organization of uniform silica globules into the three-dimensional superlattice of artificial opals , 1999 .

[6]  C. Hsieh,et al.  Influence of surface roughness on water- and oil-repellent surfaces coated with nanoparticles , 2005 .

[7]  R. Blossey.  Self-cleaning surfaces — virtual realities , 2003, Nature materials.

[8]  Stefan Seeger,et al.  Silicone Nanofilaments and Their Application as Superhydrophobic Coatings , 2006 .

[9]  Hsisheng Teng,et al.  Influence of oxygen treatment on electric double-layer capacitance of activated carbon fabrics , 2002 .

[10]  Ž. Knez,et al.  Adsorption of toxic organic compounds from water with hydrophobic silica aerogels. , 2007, Journal of colloid and interface science.

[11]  N. Koratkar,et al.  Combined micro-/nanoscale surface roughness for enhanced hydrophobic stability in carbon nanotube arrays , 2007 .

[12]  Wei Chen,et al.  Ultrahydrophobic and Ultralyophobic Surfaces: Some Comments and Examples , 1999 .

[13]  C. Hsieh,et al.  Superhydrophobic behavior of fluorinated carbon nanofiber arrays , 2006 .

[14]  A. Moreno,et al.  Colloidal aggregation phenomena: Spatial structuring of TEOS-derived silica aerogels. , 2006, Journal of colloid and interface science.

[15]  Zhifeng Ren,et al.  Dropwise condensation on superhydrophobic surfaces with two-tier roughness , 2007 .

[16]  H. Uhm,et al.  Superhydrophobicity of a material made from multiwalled carbon nanotubes , 2006 .

[17]  C. Hsieh,et al.  Influence of fluorine/carbon atomic ratio on superhydrophobic behavior of carbon nanofiber arrays , 2006 .

[18]  Gareth H. McKinley,et al.  Superhydrophobic Carbon Nanotube Forests , 2003 .

[19]  C. Hsieh,et al.  A modified Wenzel model for hydrophobic behavior of nanostructured surfaces , 2007 .

[20]  Zhiqing Yuan,et al.  Facile method to fabricate stable superhydrophobic polystyrene surface by adding ethanol , 2007 .

[21]  Tomohiro Onda,et al.  Super-Water-Repellent Fractal Surfaces , 1995 .

[22]  Wilhelm Barthlott,et al.  Characterization and Distribution of Water-repellent, Self-cleaning Plant Surfaces , 1997 .

[23]  Donghua Xu,et al.  Fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces with non-aligned alkyl-modified multi-wall carbon nanotubes , 2006 .

[24]  Didem Öner,et al.  Ultrahydrophobic Surfaces. Effects of Topography Length Scales on Wettability , 2000 .

[25]  Laura M. Ilharco,et al.  The defect structure of sol–gel-derived silica/polytetrahydrofuran hybrid films by FTIR , 2001 .

[26]  J. Garrido,et al.  Silica xerogels of tailored porosity as support matrix for optical chemical sensors. Simultaneous effect of pH, ethanol:TEOS and water:TEOS molar ratios, and synthesis temperature on gelation time, and textural and structural properties , 2007 .

[27]  David Quéré,et al.  Surface chemistry: Fakir droplets. , 2002, Nature materials.

[28]  Hardcover,et al.  Carbon: Electrochemical and Physicochemical Properties , 1988 .