A method of achieving a superhydrophobic surface based upon a highly filled polyurethane (PU) paint coating has been demonstrated through the use of a combined oxygen/argon plasma pretreatment and a fluoroalkyl silane (FAS) final treatment.The combined plasma-FAS treated PU surface has been investigated and characterised using: field emission gun secondary electron microscope (FEG-SEM); X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX); water contact angle analysis (WCA); atomic force microscopy (AFM), and;Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).It was found that the oxygen/argon plasma treatment increased both the surface roughness (R a ) and surface free energy (SFE) of the PU paint coating from approximately 60 to 320 nm, and, ~52 to ~80 mN/m respectively. It was also found that the plasma process created a multiscale roughened texture through the process of differential ablation between the PU polymer and the barium sulphate solid content, which is present in the paint as an extender, and other additives. In addition, the process also imparted favourable polar groups into the PU surface from the ionised and radical oxygen species in the plasma.When the FAS coating was subsequently applied to the PU without prior plasma treatment, there was a significant increase in water contact angles. This parameter increased from approximately 60° on untreated PU to around 130° with FAS applied.
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