Switching surface wettability properties

In this work, recent developments regarding design and preparation of surfaces to modify their wettability behavior by switching between the superhydrophobic and the superhydrophilic state under physical and chemical stimuli are summarized. The complex systems and the strategies developed in nature are investigated as a fundamental support considering the potential applications of these two ‘superstates’ in basic research and in a range of industrial fields, adapting these properties for engineering new and efficient devices or improving existent techniques.     

Factors affecting the wettability of polymer surfaces

The inconsistencies in contact angle data presented in the literature can be attributed to a number of factors. The awareness of these factors would allow novice researchers to make meaningful contact angle measurements and interpretations. In this survey the effects of surface roughness and heterogeneity, surface preparation and the presence of contaminants, the vapor environment, pressure and temperature, drop size, electrical charge, and heat transfer on the wettability of polymer surfaces were examined.     

含氟丙烯酸酯共聚物涂膜表面润湿性的研究

以甲基丙烯酸甲酯(MMA)、丙烯酸丁酯(BA)、甲基丙烯酸β–羟乙酯(HEMA)、(甲基)丙烯酸高级酯(AAs)、含氟(甲基)丙烯酸酯(Fs)等单体为原料,HDI三聚体为固化剂,通过改变共聚物组成、氟碳链长、(甲基)丙烯酸高级酯烷烃链长等因素,合成了一系列的含氟丙烯酸酯共聚物。采用水、煤油和液压油接触角以及水滴滚动距离,表征了共聚物涂膜的表面润湿性,并探讨了其影响因素。结果表明,共聚物组成和结构、烷烃链长对水的接触角影响不大,而对水的滚动性能具有较大影响;氟碳链长以及氟单体的添加方式对油水接触角和水的滚动性能有较大影响;烷烃侧链的柔顺性对油的接触角影响较大,而对水几乎没有影响。     

The influence of metallic surface wettability on bacterial adhesion

The wettability of AISI 304 stainless steel with 2B and 2RB surface finishes expressed in terms of the solid surface free energy was investigated with respect to the cleaning process. It was shown that cleaning affects the wettability of a solid surface. Depending on the cleaning method, ranged from 43.4 to 277.8 mJ m^-2 for the 2RB surface and from 34.4 to 122.8 mJ m ² for the 2B surface. There was no direct relationship between the number of adhering bacteria and or the wettability of solids. However, it was found that the adhesion of Streptococcus thermophilus was driven by a balance between and The experimental results are as expected based on thermodynamic predictions when the spreading pressure is accounted for in the surface free energy of bacteria, determination.     

偶联剂对竹材表面润湿性及胶合强度的影响

利用3种硅烷偶联剂KH550、KH560及KH602和1种偶联剂HMR处理竹材表面,考查了偶联剂对竹材表面性能及粘接性能的影响。结果显示,偶联剂HMR、KH560及KH602可以提高竹片的表面自由能,改善竹片的表面润湿性能;而KH550处理竹片后降低了竹片的表面自由能,竹片的表面润湿性变差。但是4种偶联剂均能提高竹片的胶合强度。综合价格与性能因素,偶联剂HMR的使用效果最好。     

油田采出水处理中陶瓷膜表面水润湿性

陶瓷膜污染是制约陶瓷膜技术大规模应用的关键问题.膜表面水润湿性反映了膜的污染程度.作者分析了处理油田采出污水的陶瓷膜表面对水润湿角及水润湿角随时间的变化.从颜色观察膜芯各处污染程度不同,污染轻处膜面对水润湿角70.4°.污染重处膜面对水润湿角105.9°,由亲水性转变为亲油性,水渗透性变差.经灼烧处理后膜面均为亲水性,水渗透速率较处理前提高.灼烧分析陶瓷膜有机污染物量平均为膜质量的0.78％,酸洗分析无机垢占膜质量的0.28％,以钙盐和铁盐为主.热重分析证明膜污染重处较污染轻的位置有机污染物高约1.5％.     

On surface roughness effects in wetting phenomena

A survey of the literature which builds on concepts put forth by Good in 1952 relating to surface roughness effects in wetting phenomena is performed. Good proposed a thermodynamic equation which could be used to derive the relationship between the various interfacial energies in a solid/fluid/fluid system and the angle of interception at the three-phase line of contact. This formulation allowed the derivation of Young's equation and its variations, such as Wenzel's equation, which accounts for surface roughness effects on the equilibrium contact angle. In the same work, Good also proposed the free energy barrier concept as a possible cause for contact angle hysteresis as the three-phase line of contact undergoes contortion between mechanically stable configurations. Mechanistic arguments were needed to account for hysteresis effects not predicted in the strictly thermodynamic approach. Subsequent works which extended the global thermodynamic or mechanistic perspectives were examined. Common critical underlying assumptions were inspected in both the thermodynamic and the mechanistic views, such as local enforcement of Young's equation.     

Contact angle of surfactant solutions on precipitated surfactant surfaces. II. Effects of surfactant structure,presence of a subsaturated surfactant,pH, and counterion/surfactant ratio

The contact angle of a saturated aqueous surfactant solution on the precipitate of that surfactant was measured by using the sessile drop method. The sodium and calcium salts of alkyl sulfates (C₁₂, C₁₄, and C₁₈) had advancing contact angles higher than those of alkyl trimethylammonium bromides (C₁₄, C₁₆, and C₁₈). The measured advancing contact angles for several surfactant solutions did not substantially change with varying surfactant/counterion ratios; therefore, the precipitating counterion concentration (e.g., water hardness) had little effect on the wettability. The contact angles of fatty acid (C₁₂ and C₁₆) solutions did not show any dependence on pH between a pH of 4 and 10. The contact angles of saturated calcium dodecanoate (CaC₁₂) solutions containing a second subsaturated surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate: NaDS) decreased with increasing NaDS concentrations until reaching the critical micelle concentration of the surfactant mixture. These results show that the second suractant can act as a wetting agent in this saturated surfactant system. Application of Young’s equation to contact angles showed that the solid/liquid surface tension can change substantially with surfactant concentration and be important in addition to the liquid/vapor surface tension in reducing contact angles. Application of the Zisman equation results in a “critical” surface tension for the CaC₁₂ or soap scum of 25.5 mN/m, which is comparable to difluoroethene.     

Preparation, characterization and wettability of porous superhydrophobic poly (vinyl chloride) surface

A porous superhydrophobic poly (vinyl chloride) surface was obtained by a simple approach. The water contact angle and the sliding angle of the superhydrophobic poly(vinyl chloride) surface were 154 ± 2.3o and 7o, respectively. The porous superhydrophobic PVC surface remained superhydrophobic property in the pH range from 1 to 13. When the superhydrophobic PVC surface was immersed in water with the temperatures ranging from 5 °C to 50 °C for 1 h to 30 days, the water contact angle remained higher than 150°. After outdoor exposure for 30 days, the contact angle still remained 150o.     

Wetting hysteresis: effects due to shadowing

Wetting hysteresis due to isolated surface heterogeneities is now fairly well understood but when the solid presents a population of defects, complex cooperative effects between neighbours may exist. One such effect is that of 'shadowing', in which a proportion of the flaws near the triple line, and which would otherwise contribute to hysteresis, are masked by already existing deformations to the wetting front caused by neighbouring heterogeneities. This renders them inactive and, as a result, the hysteretic wetting force is only expected to be a linear function of density for sparse populations. Theoretical predictions are compared with experimental results obtained with model heterogeneous surfaces consisting of overhead projector transparencies bestrewn with circular ink spots - the defects. Agreement is found to be satisfactory when intrinsic angles on both the homogeneous solid and the flaws are finite, whereas the concordance is less satisfactory when the contact angle of the liquid on the homogeneous solid is zero.     

Time dependent wettability of mineral and metal surfaces in the presence of thiol surfactants

The decrease in wettability of mineral and metal surfaces due to the adsorption of surfactants is crucial for flotation recovery and upgrading of these materials in mineral processing. Because of limited residence time in flotation processing, the kinetics of the wettability changes of the mineral surface becomes an important issue. The time dependent wettabilities of silver and galena (PbS) surfaces in aqueous solutions of di-isobutyl dithiophosphinate, a commercial flotation reagent, were determined from in situ measurements of advancing and receding bubble contact angles. Kinetic parameters were calculated from these data. By comparing the in situ measurements with ex situ measurements of water contact angles and external reflection FTIR of the adsorbed organic films on silver, a physical interpretation of the wettability data is given in terms of the evolution of these thin organic films on the mineral surfaces.     

Effect of surfactant compounding on the wettability of talcum powder

Talcum powder is one of the leading causes of pneumoconiosis, adding compound surfactants to the dust removal process can significantly increase the effectiveness of the dust removal. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the effect of compound surfactants on the wettability of talcum powder. This paper focuses on the ability of compound surfactants to increase the wettability of talcum powder surface by using Materials Studio 8.0. The simulation results were analyzed from the water adsorbed amount, interaction energy, and water molecule concentration profile. Combined with the experimental data of contact angle, the optimal surfactant compounding method was obtained. The simulation results revealed that stable adsorption structures can be formed by the compound of anionic and nonionic surfactants, which can reduce the electrostatic repulsion between anionic surfactants effectively and promote the directional arrangement of nonionic surfactants on the talcum powder surface. When the molar ratio of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and Polysorbate 80 was 0.4:0.6, the amount of absorbed water reached 113, which is better than monomers and other compound surfactants. The contact angle experiment results indicated a consistent variation law with the simulation results. The contact angle decreased from 68.48° to 19.84° using the compounding method mentioned above, which has the optimum wetting effect among the four compounding methods. The research results will provide a reference for the application of compound surfactants in talcum powder dustproof work.     

低温等离子体处理对PBO纤维润湿性的影响

为改善PBO纤维的润湿性,拓宽其应用领域,探究了空气低温等离子体处理对PBO纤维润湿性的影响。通过芯吸效应和接触角表征处理前后PBO纤维润湿性,并采用扫描电子显微镜SEM观察处理前后PBO纤维表面形貌,用X射线光电子能谱仪(XPS)对处理前后PBO纤维表面化学组成进行定性分析。实验结果表明,改性后PBO纤维芯吸高度大幅上升,接触角明显降低,并且在其表面产生明显刻痕,局部有剥离现象,改性后PBO纤维O、N元素含量均有所提高,PBO纤维润湿性明显增强。()     

Evaluation of fiber wettability based on an immerging force measurement

This article provides a new approach to estimate the wettability of fibers based on the force analysis in immerging procedure. A fiber in horizontal is forced into and withdrawn from the liquid at a certain speed, and the force changes are detected simultaneously. The experimental results show that the force impulse can be found at fiber contacting with liquid and immersed into liquid, and its value depends on the wettability of the fiber. According to the force impulses of different fibers, the immerging behavior of the fibers can be obtained and categorized into four characteristics. Meanwhile, the wettability of the fibers can be evaluated with the wettability factor, w, derived from the fiber immerging curve, where w is the ratio of the force increment on fiber initially contacting with the liquid to the force increment on liquid surface closing with fiber immerging into the liquid, and with the contact angle, θ, calculated from the wettability factor (θ = π/(w+1)) supposed that the fiber is a circular cross section. The pulling‐out test for a fiber has also been conducted and the results are discussed briefly in this article. The force measurement indicates that the method can be used for various fibers with short length, or lower density than that of the liquid, or poor wettability. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 2659–2666, 2006     

Effect of solvent on surface wettability of electrospun polyphosphazene nanofibers

Two kinds of biodegradable polymers, poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) and poly[(alanino ethyl ester)_0.67 (glycino ethyl ester)_0.33 phosphazene] (PAGP), were electrospun by using four different solvents. All PCL nanofibrous mats had similar surface water contact angles independent of solvents. However, it was found that the water contact angles of PAGP nanofibrous mats were 102.2° ± 2.3°, 113.5° ± 2.2°, 115.8° ± 1.4°, and 119.1° ± 0.7°, respectively, when trifluoroethanol, chloroform, dichloromethane, and tetrahydrofuran were used as a solvent. This difference was supposed mainly due to phosphorous and nitrous atoms in PAGP being dragged to fiber surface with solvent evaporation during the solidification of nanofibers, because of the strong interaction between positive phosphorous atoms and electronegative atoms in solvents. This interaction was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared, and the accumulation of phosphorous and nitrous atoms in the solvent‐casting PAGP film surface was identified by X‐ray photoelectron spectrometry analysis. PCL samples did not show the solvent‐controlled surface wettability because it contained fewer polar atoms. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

基于光学测量的异形纤维润湿性差异研究

气液聚结过滤在过程工业领域具有广泛应用,纤维材料润湿性是影响聚结元件过滤性能的关键因素。基于光学测量法,本工作开展了单根三角形、三叶形和十字形纤维表面的液体润湿性差异研究,分析了液体接触角及体积的变化过程,考察了液体类型、纤维倾斜角度及异形度对润湿性的影响。结果表明,液体表面张力越小,接触角越小,润湿性越强,但液体的挥发性易导致实际接触角大于理论接触角。三甘醇、癸二酸二辛酯和硅油的接触角基本不随时间发生变化,水和乙醇的接触角随时间逐渐减小且由于乙醇挥发速率较高,导致减小速率更大。液体接触角随异形纤维的倾斜角度呈“V”形分布,即存在极小值点(倾斜角度为30°),使纤维润湿性达到最佳。当纤维异形度增大时,不同液体间的接触角差异缩小、整体润湿性提高,表明在制备预过滤层或排液层材料时,宜选择异形度较高的纤维。     

Control of wettability of polymers using organic surface chemistry

The analytical technique of contact angle analysis has been used both to monitor organic transformations on the surfaces of fluoropolymer films and also to help correlate surface structure with wettability. This paper describes the preparation and characterization, particularly with regard to wettability, of several series of surface-modified derivatives of chemically resistant polymers. A series of esters prepared with acid chlorides and alcohol-functionalized poly(chlorotrifluoroethylene) (PCTFE-OH) displays expected water contact angle trends and indicates that wettability can be controlled using organic surface chemistry. The identification of carboxylic acids on the surface of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVF₂-CO₂H) by the pH dependence of the water contact angle is discussed. Also described and compared with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is the use of contact angle for observing polymer surface reconstruction.