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Chen Y, Yu X, Chen L, Liu S, Xu X, Zhao S, Huang S, Tian X. Dynamic Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Brush Coating Shows Even Better Antiscaling Capability than the Low-Surface-Energy Fluorocarbon Counterpart. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2021; 55:8839-8847. [PMID: 34138548 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c01850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Scale formation is a significant problem in a wide range of industries, including water treatment, food processing, power plants, and oilfield production. While surface modification provides a promising methodology to address this challenge, it has generally been believed that surface coatings with the lowest surface energy, such as fluorocarbon coatings, are most suitable for antiscaling applications. In contrast to this general knowledge, here we show that a liquid-like coating featuring highly mobile linear poly(dimethylsiloxane) (LPDMS) brush chains can bring an even better antiscaling performance than conventional perfluoroalkylsilane coatings, despite the fact that the former has much higher surface energy than the latter. We demonstrate that the LPDMS brush coating can more effectively inhibit heterogeneous nucleation of scale on a substrate compared with common perfluoroalkylsilane or alkylsilane coatings, and the dynamic liquid-like characteristic of the LPDMS brush coating is speculated to be responsible for its excellent nucleation inhibiting ability by reducing the affinity and effective interface interaction between the substrate and the scale nucleus. Our findings reveal the great prospect of using liquid-like coating to replace environmentally hazardous fluorine-containing organic ones as a green and cost-effective solution to address the scale problem with enhanced antiscaling performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite & Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xiaodong Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite & Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Liwei Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite & Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Shilin Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite & Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xiaofei Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Shuangliang Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Resource Processing and Process Intensification Technology and School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
| | - Shilin Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite & Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xuelin Tian
- State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite & Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
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