• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Potoscience Conference
• /
• spring
• /
• pp.55-55
• /
• 1999

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.800-805
• /
• 2016

Rapid growth in nanotechnologies promises novel benefits through the exploitation of their unique industrial applications. However, as the production volume of nanomaterials increases, their unintentional exposure to the environment has been occured. Potential impacts of nanoproducts on the environment can be evaluated in the life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is the systematic analysis of the resource usages and emissions over the life time from the primary resources to the moment of disposal. In this study, we performed LCA for fabrication processes of superhydrophilic oil/water separator using nano-$TiO_2$. $TOTAL^{TM}$ freeware was used to analyze for all fabrication processes, and 6-environmental impact factors (resource depletion, climate change, ozone depletion, acidification, eutropication, and photochemical oxidation) were introduced. In addition, the use of nano-$TiO_2$ in the fabrication of superhydrophilic oil/water separator was actively contributed to the environmental impact factors, compared to the bulk-$TiO_2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2015.11a
• /
• pp.174-174
• /
• 2015

플라즈마 공법은 표면 처리를 위한 유용한 방법으로 널리 응용되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 플라즈마 화학 기상 증착법(Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, PECVD)을 이용해 기존의 폴리머 표면에 나노구조를 형성하고 그 위에 친수성을 갖는 물질을 코팅해 초친수 표면을 만들어 김서림 방지 성능을 확인하였다. 이러한 초친수성 폴리머 표면의 경우 김서림 방지 등 초친수 표면이 필요한 곳에 유용하게 사용 될 수 있을 것이라 기대된다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.382-387
• /
• 2005

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) surface was irradiated and became superhydrophilic by low energy (180 eV) and high flux $(\~10^{15}/cm{\cdot}s)$ ion beam. As an ion source, a closed electron Hall drift thruster of $\phi=70mm$ outer channel size without grid was adopted. Ar, $O_2$ and $N_2O$ were used for source gases. When $N_2O^+$ and $O_2^+$ reactive gas ion beam were irradiated with the ion fluence of $5\times10^{15}/cm^2$, the wetting angle for deionized water was drastically dropped from $61^{\circ}\;to\;4^{\circ}\;and\;2^{\circ}$, respectively. Surface energy was also increased up to from 44 mN/m to 81 mN/m. Change of chemical component in PVDF surface was analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Such a great increase of the surface energy was intimately related with the increase of hydrophilic group component in reactive ion irradiated PVDF surfaces. By using an atomic force microscopy, the root-mean-square of surface roughness of ion irradiated PVDF was not much altered compared to that of pristine PVDF.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2011.02a
• /
• pp.505-505
• /
• 2011

The control of wettability of thin films is of great importance and its success surely brings us huge applications such as self-cleaning, antifogging and bio-passive treatments. Usually, the control is accomplished by modifying either surface energy or surface topography of films. In general, hydrophobic surface can be produced by coating low surface energy materials such as fluoropolymer or by increasing surface roughness. In contrast, to enhance the hydrophillicity of solid surfaces, high surface energy and smoothness are required. Silica (SiO2) is environmentally safe, harmless to human body and excellently inert to most chemicals. Also its chemical composition is made up of the most abundant elements on the earth's crest, which means that SiO2 is inherently economical in synthesis. Moreover, modification in chemistry of SiO2 into various inorganic-organic hybrid materials and synthesis of films are easily undertaken with the sol-gel process. The contact angle of water on a flat silica surface on which the Young's equation operates shows ~50o. This is a slightly hydrophilic surface. Many attempts have been made to enhance hydrophilicity of silica surfaces. In recent years, superhydrophilic and antireflective coatings of silica were fabricated from silica nanoparticles and polyelectrolytes via a layer-by-layer assembly and postcalcination treatment. This coating layer has a high transmittance value of 97.1% and a short water spread time to flat of <0.5 s, indicating that both antireflective and superhydrophilic functions were realized on the silica surfaces. In this study, we assessed hydrophillicity and hydrophobicity of silica coating layers that were synthesized using the sol-gel process. Systematic changes of processing parameters greatly influence their surface properties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2011.02a
• /
• pp.328-328
• /
• 2011

Wetting phenomena have been heavily studied for industrial and academic researches especially tuning the wettability between hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity. Wicking through the surface texture is shown on superhydrophilic surface while rolling (or dewetting) on the patterns of superhydrophobic surface. These wetting phenomena are known to be affected by surface wettability determined with physical surface patterns as well as chemical composition of surface layer. In this research, we introduce a method to control the wettability of a thin C-SiOx film from hydrophobic to hydrophilic using a mixture gas of HMDSO/$O_2$ by plasma polymerization with rf-CVD (radio frequency-Chemical Vapor Deposition). Wettability was finely controlled by changing the ratio of HMDSO/$O_2$. Hydrophilicity increased as the ratio decreased, while hydrophobicity was enhanced by the ratio. Moreover, fine control from superhydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity was achieved by C-SiOx coating on the Si wafer with prepatterns of submicron-sized pillar array formed by $CF_4$ plasma etching.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2013.02a
• /
• pp.97-97
• /
• 2013

The exterior structures of natural organisms have continuously evolved by controlling wettability, such as the Namib Desert beetle, whose back has hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast for water harvesting by mist condensation in dry desert environments, and some plant leaves that have hierarchical micro/nanostructures to collect or repel liquid water. In this work, we have provided a method for wettability contrast on metals by both nano-flake or needle patterns and tuning of the surface energy. Metals including steel alloys and aluminum were provided with hierarchical micro/nanostructures of metaloxides induced by fluorination and a subsequent catalytic reaction of fluorine ions on metal surfaces in water with various ranges from room to boiling temperature of water. Then, a hydrophobic material was deposited on the structured surfaces, rendering superhydrophobicity. Plasma oxidization induces the formation of superhydrophilic surfaces on selective regions surrounded by superhydrophobic surfaces. We show that wettability contrast surfaces align liquid water within patterned hydrophilic regions during the condensation process. Furthermore, this method could have a greater potential to align other liquids or living cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.08a
• /
• pp.122-122
• /
• 2012

The exterior structures of natural organisms have continuously evolved by controlling wettability, such as the Namib Desert beetle, whose back has hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast for water harvesting by mist condensation in dry desert environments, and some plant leaves that have hierarchical micro/nanostructures to collect or repel liquid water. In this work, we have provided a method for wettability contrast on metals by both nano-flake or needle patterns and tuning of the surface energy. Metals including steel alloys and aluminum were provided with hierarchical micro/nanostructures of metaloxides induced by fluorination and a subsequent catalytic reaction of fluorine ions on metal surfaces in water with various ranges from room to boiling temperature of water. Then, a hydrophobic material was deposited on the structured surfaces, rendering superhydrophobicity. Plasma oxidization induces the formation of superhydrophilic surfaces on selective regions surrounded by superhydrophobic surfaces. We show that wettability contrast surfaces align liquid water within patterned hydrophilic regions during the condensation process. Furthermore, this method could have a greater potential to align other liquids or living cells.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.32 no.11
• /
• pp.3991-3995
• /
• 2011

$TiO_2-SiO_2-In_2O_3$ nanocomposite thin film was deposited on the glass substrates using a dip coating technique. The morphology, surface composition, surface hydroxyl groups, photocatalytic activity and hydrophilic properties of the thin film were investigated by AFM, XPS, methyl orange decoloring rate and water contact angle measurements. The hydroxyl content for $TiO_2$, $TiO_2-SiO_2$ and $TiO_2-SiO_2-In_2O_3$ nanocomposite films was calculated to be 11.6, 17.1 and 20.7%, respectively. $TiO_2-SiO_2-In_2O_3$ film turned superhydrophilic after 180-min irradiation with respect to pure $TiO_2$ and $TiO_2-SiO_2$ thin films. The photocatalytic decomposition of methyl orange for $TiO_2$, $TiO_2-SiO_2$ and $TiO_2-SiO_2-In_2O_3$ thin films was measured as 38.19, 58.71 and 68.02%, respectively. The results indicated that $SiO_2$ and $In_2O_3$ had a significant effect on the hydrophilic, photocatalytic and self-cleaning properties of $TiO_2$ thin film.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.171-178
• /
• 2017

Recently, layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly has emerged as a promising fabrication technique in controlling surface wetting properties. LbL assembly technique is eco-friendly versatile technique to control the hierarchical structure and surface properties in nano- and micro-scale by employing a variety of materials (e.g., polymers, surfactants, nanoparticles, etc.). This article reviews recent progress in controlling the surface wetting using LbL technique. In particular, technical trends and research findings on fabrication and the applications of superhydrophobic, superhydrophilc, and superoleophobic/superhydrophilic LbL surfaces are extensively explained. Additionally, basic principles and fabrication methods in emerging areas such as omniphobic, self-healing, intelligent and responsive LbL surfaces are discussed.