Evaluation of wettability, mechanical, tribological properties of super
hydrophobic coatings based on organic-inorganic hybrid coatings
A. R. Phani, D. Di Claudio, and S. Santucci
CNR-INFM-CASTI and Department of Physics - University of L’Aquila, via Vetoio,
67010 Coppito- L’Aquila - ITALY
Tel : 0039-0862-433037 Fax : 0039-0862-433033 e-mail : phani_ayala@yahoo.com
Abstract
Organic-inorganic hybrid materials can offer multifunctional properties tailoring
from submicrometer to nanometer length scales in various applications such as micro and
nano photonic devices including, waveguides, light emitting devices, quantum dot
devices, photonic band gaps and holographic materials. In the present investigation,
hybrid materials based on polydimethoxy silane, perfluorolky silanes and fluorine based
polymers were spin coated on to different substrates glass, quartz, and polycarbonate
substrates at room temperature. The deposited films have been cured under UV
irradiation for better polymerization followed by annealing at 100oC (polycarbonate),
200oC and 300oC for 30 minutes. To improve the scratch resistance properties of these
coatings nanoscale Silica colloidals have been incorporated into the matrix by sol-gel
process. UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR)
spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used for optical absorbance,
vibrational and stretching bands, and phase formation of the deposited of the films,
respectively. The deposited films are transparent, hard, scratch resistance and in
particular hydrophobic. Friction coefficient measurements have been carried out by using
steel and Al2O3 as counter bodies. Adhesion strength failure and hardness measurements
on plastic substrates were examined by using scratch resistance tester and nanohardness
tester, respectively.
Key words: sol-gel process, hydrophobicity, scratch resistance, friction coefficient,
atomic force microscopy, roughness