Super-hydrophobic film deposition by an atmospheric-pressure plasma process and its anti-icing characteristics

Abstract

In this work, the super-hydrophobic (SH) surface was prepared through chemical vapor deposition process by an argon atmospheric pressure plasma jet source with HMDSN (hexamethyldisilazane) as the polymerization precursor. Plasma synthesized organosilicon (SiOxCyHz) thin films with water contact angle over 160° and sliding angle below 5°, were able to be achieved. FTIR and XPS analysis indicates a large number of hydrocarbon compositions were polymerized in the thin films enduing the latter very-low surface free energy. SEM shows the SH films display micro-nanostructure and with high degree of averaged surface roughness 190 nm evaluated by AFM analysis. From experiments under controlled low-temperature and moisture conditions, the prepared SH surface exhibits good anti-icing effects. Significantly prolonging freezing time was achievable on the SH thin films for both static and sliding water droplets. This investigation demonstrates the anti-icing potentials of SH surface prepared through low-cost simple atmospheric-pressure plasma polymerization process.