BARC/PUB/10//0172

 
 

Transparent water repellent silica films by sol-gel process

 
     
 
Author(s)

Dhere, SL.; Latthe, S. S.; Kappenstein, C.; Pajonk, G. M.; Ganesan, V.; Rao, A. V.; Wagh, P. B.; Gupta, S. C.

ABSTRACT

Non-wettable surfaces with high contact angles and facile sliding angle of water droplets have received tremendous attention in recent years. The present paper describes the room temperature (~ 27 °C) synthesis of dip coated water repellent silica coatings on glass substrates using iso-butyltrimethoxysilane (iso-BTMS) as a co-precursor. Emphasis is given to the influence of the hydrophobic reagent (iso-BTMS) on the water repellent properties of the silica films. Silica sol was prepared by keeping the molar ratio of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) precursor, methanol (MeOH) solvent, water (H2O) constant at 1:16.53:8.26 respectively, with 0.01 M NH4F throughout the experiment and the molar ratio of iso-BTMS/TEOS (M) was varied from 0 to 0.965. The effect of M on the surface structure and hydrophobicity has been researched. The static water contact angle values of the silica films increased from 65° to 140° and water sliding angle values decreased from 42° to 16° with an increase in the M value from 0 to 0.965. The water repellent silica films are thermally stable up to a temperature of 280°C and above this temperature the film shows hydrophilic behavior. The water repellent silica films were characterized by the Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), % of optical transmission, thermal and chemical aging tests, humidity tests, static and dynamic water contact angle measurements. 

 
 
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