Fabrication of super-hydrophobic film from PMMA with intrinsic water contact angle below 90°

Super-hydrophobic film is commonly prepared from hydrophobic materials. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is considered as a hydrophilic polymer (intrinsic contact angle below 90°) with the water contact angle (CA) of ∼68°. However, a super-hydrophobic PMMA film with CA of ∼154° was obtained by treating polystyrene (PS) and PMMA blended film in a warm selective solvent, cyclohexane. The surface was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results show that the conversion from the hydrophilic surface to a super-hydrophobic one is due to the cooperation of the micro-, nano-structure and the side group reorientation in the PMMA chains at the topmost.