Sol-gel preparation of fluorine-containing hydrophobic SiO2 coating by using trifluoroethanol as dispersant and modifier simultaneously

A facile sol-gel method was proposed to prepare fluorine-containing hydrophobic SiO2 coating using trifluoroethanol (TFE) as the dispersant and hydrophobic modifier simultaneously. FTIR and XPS analysis indicated that -CF3 groups were incorporated onto the surface of SiO2 particles. The resultant SiO2 coating possessed excellent hydrophobicity with a water contact angle (WCA) of 145 degrees. This provides a new method for the preparation of fluorine-containing sol-gel SiO2 coating without the expensive long-chain alkyl fluorosilane.