Transforming Siliconization into Slippery Liquid-like Coatings

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Barrio-Zhang, Hernán, McHale, Glen, Wells, Gary G., Ledesma-Aguilar, Rodrigo, Han, Rui, Jakubovics, Nicholas, Chen, Jinju
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Barrio-Zhang, Hernán
McHale, Glen
Wells, Gary G.
Ledesma-Aguilar, Rodrigo
Han, Rui
Jakubovics, Nicholas
Chen, Jinju
author_facet Barrio-Zhang, Hernán
McHale, Glen
Wells, Gary G.
Ledesma-Aguilar, Rodrigo
Han, Rui
Jakubovics, Nicholas
Chen, Jinju
contents Siliconization is widely used as a coating technique to engineer surface properties, such as in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries to lubricate motion, ensure complete dispensation of product, and to inhibit protein adsorption and biofilm growth. In the hitherto unconnected literature, there has recently been significant progress in understanding the concept of surfaces slippery to liquids. Whereas in the siliconization industry the wettability of surfaces focuses on the hydrophobicity, as measured by contact angle and surface energy, for surfaces slippery to liquids the focus is on the contact angle hysteresis (droplet-on-solid static friction). Moreover, it has been discovered that surfaces with similar static wetting properties can have dramatically different droplet kinetic friction. Here, we report a simple-to-apply coating method to create ultra-low contact angle hysteresis liquid-like coatings for glass (G), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyurethane (PU), and stainless steel (SS); materials that are used for pharmaceutical/parenteral packaging and medical equipment. Moreover, we demonstrate that the coating's slow sliding dynamics surface properties for water droplets, which indicate high droplet kinetic friction, can be converted into fast sliding dynamics, which indicate low droplet kinetic friction, by a simple molecular capping (methylation) process. Our results provide new insight into key aspects of siliconization coatings in the context of industrial/commercial processes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_22591
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Transforming Siliconization into Slippery Liquid-like Coatings
Barrio-Zhang, Hernán
McHale, Glen
Wells, Gary G.
Ledesma-Aguilar, Rodrigo
Han, Rui
Jakubovics, Nicholas
Chen, Jinju
Soft Condensed Matter
Applied Physics
Siliconization is widely used as a coating technique to engineer surface properties, such as in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries to lubricate motion, ensure complete dispensation of product, and to inhibit protein adsorption and biofilm growth. In the hitherto unconnected literature, there has recently been significant progress in understanding the concept of surfaces slippery to liquids. Whereas in the siliconization industry the wettability of surfaces focuses on the hydrophobicity, as measured by contact angle and surface energy, for surfaces slippery to liquids the focus is on the contact angle hysteresis (droplet-on-solid static friction). Moreover, it has been discovered that surfaces with similar static wetting properties can have dramatically different droplet kinetic friction. Here, we report a simple-to-apply coating method to create ultra-low contact angle hysteresis liquid-like coatings for glass (G), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyurethane (PU), and stainless steel (SS); materials that are used for pharmaceutical/parenteral packaging and medical equipment. Moreover, we demonstrate that the coating's slow sliding dynamics surface properties for water droplets, which indicate high droplet kinetic friction, can be converted into fast sliding dynamics, which indicate low droplet kinetic friction, by a simple molecular capping (methylation) process. Our results provide new insight into key aspects of siliconization coatings in the context of industrial/commercial processes.
title Transforming Siliconization into Slippery Liquid-like Coatings
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.22591