Designing superhydrophobic surfaces using fluorosilsesquioxane-urethane hybrid and porous silicon gradients

摘要

Here we describe a new class of near superhydrophobic surfaces formed using fluorinated polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane (FluoroPOSS) urethane hybrids and porous silicon gradients (pSi). We demonstrate that the surface segregation behavior of the hydrophobic fluoro component can be controlled by the type and nature of chain extender of the urethane and resultant hydrophobic association via intra or intermolecular aggregation. The surface film formed exhibits near superhydrophobicity. This work has significant potential for applications in antifouling and self-cleaning coatings, biomedical devices, microfluidic systems and tribological surfaces.