deposition of transparent, hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane - nanocrystalline tio2 hybrid films on glass substrate

Transparent, hydrophobic hybrid films were deposited on glass substrate from solution containing hydroxyl-terminatedpolydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and TiO2 sol by using a dip coating method. The effects of the film heat-treatment temperatureand PDMS/TiO2 component on surface properties of the hybrid films were investigated by water drop contact angle measurement,and by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses. Surface morphology of the hybrid film changed from smooth surface containing tiny spikes to rougher surface containing large protrusions during heattreatmenttemperatures of 60 - 300°C and became smooth surface containing very fine spikes at 500°C, corresponding to a change hydrophobicity behavior from contact angle measurement. The suitable condition for preparation of hydrophobic coating from this current recipe was at the PDMS/TiO2 volume ratio of 1.00 - 2.33 and heat-treatment temperature of 60°C. All the films were transparent regardless of post heat-treatment temperature. However, the films containing higher content of PDMS were slightly more transparent.