Super-amphiphilic surface of nano silica/polyurethane hybrid coated PET film via a plasma treatment

This study first reports the fabrication of a super-amphiphilic surface using PET films with a silica-polyurethane hybrid top-coat layer through a non-thermal, one-atmospheric-pressure plasma treatment. This surface displays contact angle close to zero with both aqueous and oily liquids, which has attracted enormous attention for a wide-range of practical applications. We systematically investigated the influence of the plasma treatment time on the wetting behavior of the silica-polyurethane coated PET surface. The changes in morphology and chemical composition of PET surfaces before and after a plasma treatment were analyzed. In order to gain an insight into the formation of a super-amphiphilic PET surface and optimize the conditions under which super-amphiphilicity can be realized, we used a hemi-wicking action as a theoretical model and experimentally verified it through determining the critical angle. We also proposed a guide for designing a nano-sphere patterned PDMS surface which can generate super-wetting properties after a plasma treatment.