Wettability control on vertically-aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube surfaces with oxygen pulsed DC plasma and CO2 laser treatments

This work presents a method to obtain control on wettability of vertically-aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube surfaces, using oxygen pulsed directly current plasma and CO2 laser irradiation. Superhydrophilic surfaces were obtained by the oxygen pulsed DC plasma treatment to incorporate polar groups on VACNT. The CO2 laser was used to irradiate the functionalized samples, at different power levels, in order to restore the superhydrophobic characteristic. Evaluation of polar and dispersive components of superficial energy was performed by Owens and Wendt method. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.