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Imparting Superhydrophobicity with a Hierarchical Block Copolymer Coating
Author(s) -
Cheng LiChen,
Simonaitis John W.,
Gadelrab Karim R.,
Tahir Mukarram,
Ding Yi,
AlexanderKatz Alfredo,
Ross Caroline A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201905509
Subject(s) - materials science , wetting , polydimethylsiloxane , contact angle , copolymer , polystyrene , coating , nanoscopic scale , spin coating , surface finish , surface roughness , nanotechnology , composite material , polymer
A robust and transparent silica‐like coating that imparts superhydrophobicity to a surface through its hierarchical multilevel self‐assembled structure is demonstrated. This approach involves iterative steps of spin‐coating, annealing, and etching of polystyrene‐block‐polydimethylsiloxane block copolymer thin films to form a tailored multilayer nanoscale topographic pattern with a water contact angle up to 155°. A model based on the hierarchical topography is developed to calculate the wetting angle and optimize the superhydrophobicity, in agreement with the experimental trends, and explaining superhydrophobicity arising through the combination of roughness at different lengthscales. Additionally, the mechanical robustness and optically passive properties of the resulting hydrophobic surfaces are demonstrated.