Role of Hierarchical Protrusions in Water Repellent Superhydrophobic PTFE Surface Produced by Low Energy Ion Beam Irradiation

The surface wettability of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was investigated with low energy Ar(+) ion beam irradiation varied from 300 eV to 800 eV both at normal and oblique angle of incidence (0°–70°) and at a low irradiation time of few 10 s of seconds. A remarkable change in surface wettability was observed, surface became hydrophobic to superhydrophobic just at 800 eV energy and in 30 s time. A systematic increase in the contact angle was observed with increase in beam energy and irradiation time. For a given ion energy and a threshold irradiation time, the hierarchical protrusions developed that leads to the rolling and bouncing of water droplet even on the horizontal PTFE surface. For the above energy range, the rolling speed was found to be in the range of ~19–31 mm/s. This induced wetting behaviour due to ion irradiation leads to the Cassie-Baxter state as confirmed by the calculation of sliding angle, contact angle hysteresis (CAH) and surface free energy (S(E)). The CAH values were found to be reduced from 18° for untreated surface (S(E) ~ 20 mN/m) to 2° for 800 eV, 180 s irradiated surface (S(E) ~ 0.35 mN/m) at normal incidence.