Novel approach to fabricate a stable superhydrophobic polycarbonate

ABSTRACT

A novel approach to fabricating a stable superhydrophobic PC using a phase separation method and selecting a solvent/non-solvent without requiring any surface chemical modification and high chemical stability was proposed in this paper. A systematic study of the dependence of surface morphology on the acetone/DMF solvent mixture treatment was conducted. Resulting surfaces demonstrated that the water CA of the superhydrophobic PC surface was 160±2°. FESEM showed that the surface structure comprised branches or petals outside the ‘plant seabeds’, which have microflowers that offer nanoscaled roughness on the surface with a hierarchical micro-/nano-binary formation. All samples were maintained at 10–40°C in ambient atmosphere for 5 h to 4 months to test the stability of the surface. The CAs were measured for each condition with very little change observed. In addition, the PC surface remained superhydrophobic without any contamination after water was sprayed on it.

KEYWORDS:

• Superhydrophobic surfaces
• phase separation
• hierarchical structures
• polycarbonate
• solvent/non-solvent

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This author is grateful for the financial support received for this work from Department of Physics/College of Science/Al-Mustansiriya University/Baghdad/Iraq.