Hydrophobicity study of polytetrafluoroethylene nanocomposite films

In the present work, inorganic fullerene-like tungsten disulfide (IF-WS₂) nanoparticles have been incorporated into polytetrafluoroethylene films using aerosol-assisted deposition process. The hydrophobic behavior of the nanocomposite film has been investigated and the result shows that the hydrophobicity of PTFE films can significantly be improved with the incorporation of IF-WS₂ nanoparticles. An oblate spheroid model which takes into the consideration of surface roughness effect has been proposed, to simulate the hydrophobic behavior, based on the surface roughness and peak density of the nanocomposite films. This hydrophobic model can provide a useful guideline to describe and predict the hydrophobicity of nanocomposite films, from the input of parameters such as surface energy, roughness and liquid properties.