Dixon, SC;
Noor, N;
Sathasivam, S;
Lu, Y;
Parkin, I;
(2016)
Synthesis of superhydrophobic polymer/tungsten (VI) oxide nanocomposite thin films.
European Journal of Chemistry
, 7
(2)
pp. 139-145.
10.5155/eurjchem.7.2.139-145.1395.
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Abstract
A method is presented to enable the preparation of superhydrophobic polymer/tungsten (VI) oxide (WO3) nanocomposite coatings on glass substrates. WO3 nanoparticles were incorporated via the swell-encapsulation-shrink method into superhydrophobic silicone polymer films deposited on glass via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) to produce the novel nanocomposite films. The technique overcomes the limitations of previous methods for nanoparticle incorporation to provide a synthetic route to previously unattainable materials. The nanocomposite films retain the properties of the superhydrophobic polymer while the presence of the nanoparticles is clearly evident. As such, the films have a range of potential applications including high surface area photocatalysis and self-cleaning photochromic or electrochromic coatings. The two-stage synthesis is shown to be flexible and suggests great scope for producing any number of future novel materials. The thin films were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and water droplet contact angle measurements.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Synthesis of superhydrophobic polymer/tungsten (VI) oxide nanocomposite thin films |
Location: | US |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.5155/eurjchem.7.2.139-145.1395 |
Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.5155/eurjchem.7.2.139-145.139... |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s). All rights reserved. |
Keywords: | Tungsten; Thin films; Nanoparticles; Materials science; Hydrophobic effect; Chemical vapor deposition |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science 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/1503280 |
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