Sol-gel preparation of fluorine-containing hydrophobic SiO2 coating by using trifluoroethanol as dispersant and modifier simultaneously

Abstract

A facile sol-gel method was proposed to prepare fluorine-containing hydrophobic SiO2 coating using trifluoroethanol (TFE) as the dispersant and hydrophobic modifier simultaneously. FTIR and XPS analysis indicated that CF3 groups were incorporated onto the surface of SiO2 particles. The resultant SiO2 coating possessed excellent hydrophobicity with a water contact angle (WCA) of 145°. This provides a new method for the preparation of fluorine-containing sol-gel SiO2 coating without the expensive long-chain alkyl fluorosilane.