Kalmoni, Julie Jalila;
Blackman, Chris;
Carmalt, Claire J;
(2025)
Surface Modification of Fluorine-Free Superhydrophobic Materials with (Ultra-)Thin TiO2 Layers.
Advanced Engineering Materials
, 27
(22)
, Article e202501319. 10.1002/adem.202501319.
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Abstract
Fluorine-free superhydrophobic (SH) thin films, prepared by aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) are surface-modified with titanium dioxide (TiO<inf>2</inf>) deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD). This modification results in significant changes to wettability, with a water contact angle reduction of ≈60° for a TiO<inf>2</inf> layer just 4 nm thick. The fluorine-free SH films are deposited from a mixture of two fatty acids (stearic acid and palmitic acid), polydimethylsiloxane, and SiO<inf>2</inf> nanoparticles. 100–1000 precursor cycles are deposited via ALD using tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium(IV)/ozone onto the fluorine-free SH films providing a TiO<inf>2</inf> film thickness of 4–100 nm. Tape peel testing confirms strong adhesion between the SH undercoat and TiO<inf>2</inf> thin film. The dual-layered films SH/TiO<inf>2</inf>/xC (where xC is indicative of the number of ALD cycles), deposited with the thinnest TiO<inf>2</inf> films (<12 nm), demonstrate maintained hydrophobicity, despite the equivalent TiO<inf>2</inf> layers (without the SH underlayer), deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrates, exhibiting hydrophilicity.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Surface Modification of Fluorine-Free Superhydrophobic Materials with (Ultra-)Thin TiO2 Layers |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1002/adem.202501319 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202501319 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025 The Author(s). Advanced Engineering Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | superhydrophobic, surface modification, wettability |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10219669 |
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