Silicones are well-known for their low glass transition temperatures, which affect dimensional stability, surface energy, and hydrophobicity. However, the properties of many alternative silicon-containing compounds, such as fluorinated polyhedral silsesquioxanes, enable the creation of superoleophobic, or even omniphobic surfaces. The extreme wetting-resistant behavior of these compounds is the result of a combination of factors, including low-surface energy and crystallinity. While low-surface energy values are largely the result of high-degrees of fluorination, allowing these compounds to migrate to the surface in composite materials, the crystallinity enabled by the alignment of flexible silicon-oxygen cores and fluorinated alkyl groups, allows micro-crystalline domains, rich in –CF<sub>3</sub> groups, to form on composite surfaces, leading to wetting-resistant surfaces. However, truly remarkable surfaces can be created when an additional level of structure is introduced. Wetting-resistant surfaces have proven useful in many applications, and many different types of compounds and surfaces have been prepared. This presentation will discuss these compounds, as well as the composition and properties necessary to achieve the desired wetting-resistant properties

Surface energy, structure, and silicon: Wetting-resistant surfaces from less-familiar compounds

251st National Meeting (2016)

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