Orientation and Self-Assembly of Hydrophobic Fluoroalkylsilanes

Abstract

Fluoroalkylsilanes (FAS) prove to be an interesting water-repellent coating for the recently discussed "superhydrophobic surfaces". The FAS investigated here form a self-assembled monolayer when brought into contact with a surface. They arrange at a high degree of orientation with their molecular axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. The film stability and the film thickness were observed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The orientation of the FAS molecules was investigated with polarizationdependent X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). Furthermore using density functional theory the molecular structure was calculated in order to aid in the interpretation of the polarization dependence of the XANES spectrum at F K-edge.

Superhydrophobic Coatings with Reduced Ice Adhesion

“…Top-down approaches encompass lithographic and template-based techniques [28], and plasma treatment of the surfaces [29,30]. Bottom-up approaches involve mostly self-assembly and self-organization [31], such as chemical bath deposition (CBD) [32,33], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [34], and electrochemical deposition [35]. Techniques involving the combination of both approaches, such as polymer solution casting, phase separation [36] and electrospinning [37,38], are also commonly used.…”

The dream of staying clean: Lotus and biomimetic surfaces

“…Recent work suggests that regeneration of technical superhydrophobic surfaces by self-assembly also may be possible (e.g. Schondelmaier et al 2002, Han et al 2005. Taking the second approach, we are currently examining repair suspensions with nanoparticles.…”

One-Step Deposition Process to Obtain Nanostructured Superhydrophobic Thin Films by Galvanic Exchange Reactions

“…Top-down approaches encompass lithographic and template-based techniques [10], laser ablation technique [11] and plasma treatment of the surfaces [12,13]. Bottom-up approaches mostly involve self-assembly and self-organization [14], such as chemical bath deposition (CBD) [15,16], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [17] and electrochemical deposition [18]. Such surfaces are usually coated with a low surface energy material as a second step to eliminate or reduce further interactions with water.…”