Ultrahydrophobicity | EPFL Graph Search

In chemistry and materials science, ultrahydrophobic (or superhydrophobic) surfaces are highly hydrophobic, i.e., extremely difficult to wet. The contact angles of a water droplet on an ultrahydrophobic material exceed 150°. This is also referred to as the lotus effect, after the superhydrophobic leaves of the lotus plant. A droplet striking these kinds of surfaces can fully rebound like an elastic ball. Interactions of bouncing drops can be further reduced using special superhydrophobic surfaces that promote symmetry breaking, pancake bouncing or waterbowl bouncing. In 1805, Thomas Young defined the contact angle θ by analysing the forces acting on a fluid droplet resting on a smooth solid surface surrounded by a gas. where = Interfacial tension between the solid and gas = Interfacial tension between the solid and liquid = Interfacial tension between the liquid and gas θ can be measured using a contact angle goniometer. Wenzel determined that when the liquid is in intimate contact with a microstructured surface, θ will change to θW* where r is the ratio of the actual area to the projected area. Wenzel's equation shows that microstructuring a surface amplifies the natural tendency of the surface. A hydrophobic surface (one that has an original contact angle greater than 90°) becomes more hydrophobic when microstructured – its new contact angle becomes greater than the original. However, a hydrophilic surface (one that has an original contact angle less than 90°) becomes more hydrophilic when microstructured – its new contact angle becomes less than the original. Cassie and Baxter found that if the liquid is suspended on the tops of microstructures, θ will change to θCB* where φ is the area fraction of the solid that touches the liquid. Liquid in the Cassie-Baxter state is more mobile than in the Wenzel state. It can be predicted whether the Wenzel or Cassie-Baxter state should exist by calculating the new contact angle with both equations. By a minimization of free energy argument, the relation that predicted the smaller new contact angle is the state most likely to exist.

Self-cleaning and wear-resistant polymer nanocomposite surfaces

Yves Leterrier, Feyza Karasu Kiliç, Luca Alois Egon Müller

Superhydrophobic self-cleaning and wear-resistant nanocomposite surfaces were produced by mimicking the hierarchical structure of the lotus leaf using a combination of rapid self-assembly and a UV nano-imprint lithography (UVNIL) process with a silicone master. Two different acrylate formulations containing acrylated silica nanoparticles and an acrylated silicone surfactant were used. The presence of the silicone master did not suppress the spontaneous migration of the surfactant to the polymer surface, which increased its hydrophobic character. Adding acrylated silica particles considerably increased the viscosity of the acrylate suspensions and led to a shear-thinning behavior. However the particles did not prevent the fast migration process of the surfactant and further increased the hydrophobicity of the material, due to increased nanoscale roughness of the nanocomposite surface. The largest increase of hydrophobicity was achieved for the UVNIL printed lotus surfaces using the acrylate formulation with lowest viscosity. These surfaces became superhydrophobic for the highest investigated concentration of silica. These nanocomposite lotus surfaces were, in addition, very hard with a microhardness above 400 MPa and particularly wear-resistant, and were self-cleaning with respect to hydrophobic contamination.

2018

Field-Effect Transistors Based on ZnO Nanowires

Daniel Dominik Kälblein

Semiconductor nanowires are an emerging class of materials with great potential for applications in future electronic devices. The small footprint and the large charge-carrier mobilities of nanowires make them potentially useful for applications with high-integration density, but also to replace thin-film transistors in large-area electronics. This thesis investigates the use of wet-chemically grown ZnO nanowires for the fabrication of high-performance, low-voltage field-effect transistors (FETs). The first part of this thesis addresses the electrical characteristics of the wet-chemically grown ZnO nanowires. The as-grown ZnO nanowires are highly conductive due to a large charge-carrier concentration caused by dopants unintentionally incorporated into the ZnO nanowires during the synthesis. This large charge-carrier concentration makes it difficult to modulate the conductivity of the nanowires by an external electric field, so that the as-grown wires are not suitable for FETs. A post-growth annealing step is employed to dramatically reduce the charge-carrier concentration of the nanowires which makes it possible to fabricate FETs with useful characteristics. ZnO-nanowire FETs in a global back-gate geometry based on annealed ZnO nanowires have a transconductance of 300 nS, an on/off current ratio of 107 and a subthrehold slope of 500 mV/decade. The maximum field-effect mobility of the annealed ZnO nanowires is around 50 cm2/Vs. An important requirement to obtain good FET characterisitcs is to minimize the influence of the source and drain contact resistance on the total device resistance. The material used for the source and drain contacts in this thesis is aluminum. It is demonstrated that the use of a plasma treatment in the contact regions prior to the evaporation of the aluminum contacts can greatly influence the contact properties between ZnO and aluminum. An argon-plasma treatment locally increases the charge-carrier concentration in the ZnO. It is shown that the doping effect of the argon-plasma treatment can be exploited to reduce the contact resistance between alumiunm and ZnO and improve the electrical performance of the FETs. In the second part of this thesis, the influence of the ambient air on the electrical characteristics of the ZnO-nanowire FETs is investigated. The electrical conductivity of the FETs is strongly affected by the distinct atmospheric conditions, which makes it difficult to obtain reliable FET characteristics. The potential of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) based on fluoroalkylphosphonic acid molecules to passivate the ZnO nanowires against the undesirable effects of the ambient and to stabilize the electrical performance of ZnO-nanowire FETs is demonstrated. The stabilizing effect is attributed to the formation of a densely packed, hydrophobic SAM on the surface of ZnO and aluminum oxide. The quality of the hydrophobic SAMs is confirmed by means of water-contact-angle measurements on SAM-covered ZnO single crystals that show a contact angle of more than 110°. The third part of this thesis is dedicated to the fabrication of high-performance ZnO-nanowire FETs with patterned metal top-gate electrodes. A top-gate fabrication process is developed that uses a very thin gate dielectric consisting only of an alkylphosphonic acid SAM that can be deposited from solution. The insulating quality of the SAM is investigated for top-gate FETs that utilize either gold or aluminum for the top-gate electrode. Gold top-gate FETs show a transconductance of 1 µS, an on/off current ratio of 107, and a steep subthreshold slope of 90 mV/decade. The thin gate dielectric makes it possible to operate the gold top-gate FETs at low voltages of 1 V and simultaneously reduces the undesired gate current by more than three orders of magnitude compared to gold top-gate FETs that have been fabricated without a gate dielectric (MESFETs). The gate current of the gold top-gate FETs with SAM gate dielectric is as low as 1 pA for gate-source voltages between -1 V and 0.5 V. When aluminum is used for the top-gate electrode, a hybrid dielectric is formed at the interface between the SAM and the aluminum, consisting of the SAM and a spontaneously formed aluminum oxide layer. Owing to the hybrid gate dielectric, the aluminum top-gate FETs are operated with gate currents below 1 pA for voltages up to 3 V. The top-gate fabrication process does not require temperatures above 160 °C, which makes it possible to fabricate FETs on unconventional substrates that cannot tolerate high temperatures, such as glass or flexible plastics. Integrated circuits on single ZnO nanowires that are fabricated on glass and plastic substrates are demonstrated. The maximum switching frequency of the inverters is 1 MHz.

EPFL2011

Field-Effect Transistors Based on ZnO Nanowires

Daniel Dominik Kälblein

EPFL2011