Super‐Hydrophobic Coatings Prepared by RF Magnetron Sputtering of PTFE

Fluorocarbon plasma polymer films were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering in Argon from a balanced magnetron equipped with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) target. Depending on the deposition conditions, primarily on the working gas pressure and distance between the target and the substrate, plasma polymer films were obtained with distinctly different chemical composition and/or morphology, as measured by means of XPS, FTIR and AFM. These films possessed static contact angle of water values ranging from 112° to ≈170° i.e. their behaviour ranged from hydrophobic to superhydrophobic ones. magnified image