Development and characterization of poly ethyl metha acrylate-iron oxide(III) based hydrophobic liquid nanocomposite films

摘要

Select applications of hydrophobic nanocomposites include preparation of robust self-cleaning surfaces, water-repel lent glass surfaces, and waterproofing textiles. Various nanocomposites have been reported in the literature; however, the relationship between the nanocomposite surface morphology and its hydrophobicity needs to be understood better. In the present work Fe2O3 nanoparticles and poly ethyl metha acrylate (PEMA) were used in varying proportions to obtain a series of model hydrophobic surfaces (spin-coated oil glass substrate). The hydrophobicity of these surfaces was measured by static contact angle; a maximum of similar to 103 degrees was obtained at highest loading of iron oxide nanoparticles. These surfaces were also characterized using AFM. The contact angle and characterization data were used to test some of the models which have been proposed in the recent literature on prediction of contact angle for composite surfaces. It is proposed that the hydrophobicity of the iron oxide-PEMA Surface is due to the physical roughness causing air entrapment as well as the chemical heterogeneity. Based on the experimental studies and the simulations using the recent models on contact angle, some general features of relationship between a composite surface morphology and its hydrophobicity is proposed.