Hydrophobic surfaces of spin-assisted layer-by-layer assembled polyelectrolyte multilayers doped with copper nanoparticles and modified by fluoroalkylsilane

Polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) fabricated by spin-assisted layer-by-layer assembly technique were used as nanoreactors for in situ synthesis of Cu nanoparticles, allowing generation of Cu nanoparticles doped composite, denoted as Cu-nanoparticles PEMs. Thus chemical reaction within the PEMs was initiated by a series of reaction cycles in which Cu2+ was absorbed into the polymer-coated silicon substrate and reduced in NaBH4 solution. The surface of Cu-nanoparticles PEMs was modified by heptadecafluorodecyl-trimethoxysilane (FAS-17) with low surface energy, generating a hydrophobic film. The adhesion and nano-friction behavior of the hydrophobic film was investigated using an atomic force microscope, while its macro-tribological behavior sliding against stainless steel under dry- and distilled-water-lubricated conditions was investigated using a UMT-2 test rig. It was found that Cu-nanoparticles PEMs modified with FAS-17 has a lower friction and higher adhesion than that without modification. Moreover, the hydrophobic film possesses lower friction coefficient under water-lubrication and higher friction coefficient under dry-sliding than the hydrophilic film under the same conditions, which could be mainly due to the difference in the surface energy. The titled hydrophobic films with low adhesion and friction would have potential application in micro/nano-electro-mechanical systems.