Superhydrophobic nanofiber arrays and flower-like structures of electrodeposited conducting polymers

Abstract

An original fluorinated EDOT derivative was synthesized by grafting a F-octyl tail directly onto an EDOT heterocycle and was used to elaborate superhydrophobic surfaces by electrodeposition. The control of the deposition charge allows one to reach versatile surface wettability from sticky to non-sticky. At low deposition charges (between 100 and 200 mC cm⁻²), the surface is composed of nanofiber arrays (vertically aligned) and displays superhydrophobic contact angles (≈160°), low hysteresis (H ≈ 4°) and sliding angles of ≈2°. At high deposition charges (above 200 mC cm⁻²), the nanofibers self-assemble to form flower-like structures and an increase in the adhesion from non-sticky to sticky is observed. Hence, we demonstrate the possibility to reach nanofiber arrays without hydrogen bonds, by using steric hindrances induced by fluorinated chains.