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A New Route for Surface Modification: Fluorine-Induced Superhydrophilicity
journal contribution
posted on 2016-05-13, 00:00 authored by Zhi-Yong Luo, Kai-Xuan Chen, Dong-Chuan Mo, Shu-Shen LyuSurface
energy and roughness are well-known to be the two key factors
for fabricating surfaces with superhydrophilicity or superwettability,
and thousands of outstanding achievements have been reported on the
basis of these two aspects in recent decades. However, for the physical
chemistry community, it is still a challenge for making man-made superhydrophilic
surface with universal and easy operating. Here, we describe the development
of fluorine-induced superhydrophilicity (FIS) method to fabricate
superhydrophilic interfaces via oxy-fluoridation process, in which
the fluorine atoms are linked to metal or semimetal atoms in the form
of −O–M–F (M is metal or semimetal atom), and
a superhydrophilic interface can be obtained owing to the strong polarity
bond of (semi)metal oxy-fluoride. Simulation results showed that hydrogen
bonds are formed between water molecules and oxy-fluoridized (semi)metallic
interfaces. The value of this FIS has been demonstrated through the
successful surface treatment for Ti, Zn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Si and can
be expanded to fabricate various superhydrophilic interfaces in the
form of −Y–M–X (X = F, Cl, et al.; M = (semi)metals;
Y = O, S, N, et al.) theoretically.