Highly hydrophobic surfaces prepared by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharges
Journal article, 2008

Atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) treatments of wood were done to attain water repellency on wood surfaces. A specially designed frequency controlled parallel-plate DBD reactor was utilized to produce the discharges. Ethylene, methane, chlorotrifluoroethylene and hexafluoropropylene were used as DBD reagents. Contact angle, water absorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements on the modified surfaces were performed. For methane and ethylene, XPS data showed an increased surface atomic concentration of carbon from 72.7% on untreated samples up to 80.7 and 96%, respectively, whereas nearly 50% fluorine concentration was observed with fluorinated reagents. The C-1s spectrum of hexafluoropropylene-DBD-treated wood sample showed that the CF3 group was introduced in a relative amount of 19%. AFM images showed distinct features for each of the DBD treatments, such as a deposit of a thin uniform film in the case of ethylene-DBD treatment, whereas the hexafluoropropylene-DBD treatment resulted in the nucleation of plasma-derived entities at the fiber surface and the subsequent growth of a film. Under optimized conditions the water contact angle was in the range of 139 degrees- 145 degrees. The combination of depositing a low surface energy polymer on an already rough surface gave the surface-treated wood a highly hydrophobic character.

fluorinated vinyl monomers

liquid water uptake

methane

contact angle

Atmospheric plasma

ethylene

XPS

surface roughness

Author

Guillermo Toriz Gonzalez

University of Guadalajara

M.G. Gutiérrez

University of Guadalajara

V Gonzales-Alvarez

University of Guadalajara

Anne Wendel

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Polymer Technology

Paul Gatenholm

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Polymer Technology

A.J. Martinez-Gomez

University of Guadalajara

Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology

0169-4243 (ISSN) 1568-5616 (eISSN)

Vol. 22 16 2059-2078

Subject Categories

Chemical Engineering

DOI

10.1163/156856108X332561

More information

Created

10/6/2017