Wetting and absorption of water drops on nafion films

Sharonmoyee Goswami, Shannon Klaus, Jay Benziger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

137 Scopus citations

Abstract

Water drops on Nafion films caused the surface to switch from being hydrophobic to being hydrophilic. Contact angle hysteresis of > 70°between advancing and receding values were obtained by the Wilhelmy plate technique. Sessile drop measurements were consistent with the advancing contact angle; the sessile drop contact angle was 108° Water drop adhesion, as measured by the detachment angle on an inclined plane, showed much stronger water adhesion on Nafion than Teflon. Sessile water and methanol drops caused dry Nafion films to deflect. The flexure went through a maximum with time. Flexure increased with contact area of the drop, but was insensitive to the film thickness. Methanol drops spread more on Nafion and caused larger film flexure than water. The results suggest that the Nafion surface was initially hydrophobic but water and methanol drops caused hydrophilic sulfonic acid domains to be drawn to the Nafion surface. Local swelling of the film beneath the water drop caused the film to buckle. The maximum flexure is suggested to result from motion of a water swelling front through the Nafion film.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)8627-8633
Number of pages7
JournalLangmuir
Volume24
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 19 2008

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Spectroscopy
  • General Materials Science
  • Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Electrochemistry

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