title: Exploiting the hierarchical morphology of single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotube films for highly hydrophobic coatings.
abstract: Self-assembled hierarchical solid surfaces are very interesting for wetting phenomena, as observed in a variety of natural and artificial surfaces. Here, we report single-walled (SWCNT) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) thin films realized by a simple, rapid, reproducible, and inexpensive filtration process from an aqueous dispersion, that was deposited at room temperature by a dry-transfer printing method on glass. Furthermore, the investigation of carbon nanotube films through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals the multi-scale hierarchical morphology of the self-assembled carbon nanotube random networks. Moreover, contact angle measurements show that hierarchical SWCNT/MWCNT composite surfaces exhibit a higher hydrophobicity (contact angles of up to 137°) than bare SWCNT (110°) and MWCNT (97°) coatings, thereby confirming the enhancement produced by the surface hierarchical morphology.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy ; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata (INFN-Roma Tor Vergata), Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Nicola
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy ; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata (INFN-Roma Tor Vergata), Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Castrucci
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy ; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata (INFN-Roma Tor Vergata), Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scarselli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Impresa, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata (INSTM-UdR Roma Tor Vergata), Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nanni
authors.affiliation: Universitá di Roma Niccolò Cusano (INSTM-UdR), Via Don Carlo Gnocchi 3, 00166 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cacciotti
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy ; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Universitá di Roma Tor Vergata (INFN-Roma Tor Vergata), Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy ; Istituto di Struttura della Materia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISM-CNR), Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00100 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Crescenzi
keywords: hierarchical structures; hydrophobic surfaces; multi-walled carbon nanotube; single-walled carbon nanotube; wetting transitions
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