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A superhydrophobic film with high water vapor transmission prepared from block copolymer micelle solution via VIPS method

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Abstract

A superhydrophobic film with high water vapor transmission has been prepared via a vapor-induced phase separation process, where a block copolymer micellar solution was exposed to an organic non-solvent vapor atmosphere to evaporate solvent. After complete evaporation of the solvents, the obtained film displays 3-dimentional network with bi-continuous matrices and channels, both of which are at the scale of nanometers to micrometers. Interestingly, the matrix of the film consists of inter-connected sub-micrometer particles. The special hierarchical microstructure results in superhydrophobic and high adhesive properties of the film. Films with this kind of microstructure coating on non-planar substrates have been successfully prepared. The porosity of the film has been determined, and applications of the film in fields such as water vapor transmission and microfiltration separation have been carried out in order to indicate its potential.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (No. 2013 J01206), the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51273166) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (CXB2014014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Materials, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Qirong Ke, Yunying Liao, Mingfeng Lin, Shanshan Lin, Hang Du, Sun Yao & Xiaopeng Xiong

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  1. Qirong Ke
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  2. Yunying Liao
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  3. Mingfeng Lin
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  4. Shanshan Lin
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  5. Hang Du
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  6. Sun Yao
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  7. Xiaopeng Xiong
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Correspondence to Xiaopeng Xiong.

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Ke, Q., Liao, Y., Lin, M. et al. A superhydrophobic film with high water vapor transmission prepared from block copolymer micelle solution via VIPS method. J Polym Res 22, 213 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-015-0850-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-015-0850-z

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