Wear-Resistant Thin Polytetrafluoroethylene Coatings through Nanoscale Interface Engineering

聚四氟乙烯因其品牌名Teflon®而广为人知，它被广泛用作许多产品的涂层材料，例如，在厨具上进行涂层以使其不粘。然而，聚四氟乙烯涂层由于与基材的附着力较差而容易磨损，严重限制了其应用。该奖项支持对一种新方法的基础研究，该方法通过纳米级界面工程将多多巴胺作为粘结剂底层，并在底层和涂层中加入多多巴胺涂层纳米结构，从而显著提高聚四氟乙烯涂层的耐磨性。这一新方法将允许在任何衬底材料上沉积耐磨薄聚四氟乙烯涂层，而无需改变衬底表面形貌，从而提供潜在的解决方案，以保持广泛的表面性能，包括但不限于自清洁、防雾、防冰、抗腐蚀、抗生物污垢、减阻和固体润滑。这些特性对于能源、航空航天、汽车、石油和天然气、医疗保健和生物医药行业的应用至关重要。因此，这项研究的结果将有利于美国的经济和社会。将开展全面的教育和推广活动，极大地激发下一代S对纳米材料及其应用的兴趣，并将提高美国S未来在纳米技术方面的竞争力。本研究的目的是通过以下两方面显著提高聚四氟乙烯涂层的耐磨性：(1)增加聚多巴胺底层与聚四氟乙烯涂层之间的结合强度；(2)增加聚四氟乙烯涂层中聚四氟乙烯纳米粒子之间的结合强度。不同材料、形状和大小的聚多巴胺涂层纳米结构将被结合到聚多巴胺底层和聚四氟乙烯涂层中。研究了在聚多巴胺底层和聚四氟乙烯涂层中添加聚多巴胺涂层的纳米结构，以及纳米结构材料、形状、尺寸和浓度对聚四氟乙烯涂层的结合强度、力学性能和耐磨性的影响。这项研究计划将建立对聚多巴胺底层和聚多巴胺涂层纳米结构在提高聚四氟乙烯涂层耐磨性方面所起的作用的基础知识，这些涂层用于潜在的表面润湿和摩擦学应用。这项研究将提供有价值的信息，指导合理设计由聚多巴胺粘结剂底层和聚多巴胺涂层纳米结构实现的耐磨薄聚四氟乙烯涂层。

Polytetrafluoroethylene, better known by its brand name Teflon®, is widely used as a coating material on many products, for example, the coating on cookware to make it non-stick. However, polytetrafluoroethylene coatings are easily worn because of their poor adhesion to the substrates, severely limitating their applications. This award supports fundamental research on a novel approach to significantly improve the wear resistance of polytetrafluoroethylene coatings through nanoscale interface engineering by incorporating polydopamine as an adhesive underlayer and polydopamine coated nanostructures in both the underlayer and coating. This new approach will allow wear-resistant thin polytetrafluoroethylene coatings to be deposited on any substrate materials without changing the underlining surface topography, thus providing potential solutions to retain a wide range of surface properties that rely on both surface topography and chemistry, including, but not limited to, self-cleaning, anti-fogging, anti-icing, anti-corrosion, anti-biofouling, drag reduction, and solid lubrication. These properties are critically important for applications in energy, aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, healthcare, and biomedical industries. Therefore, results from this research will benefit the U.S. economy and society. Comprehensive education and outreach activities will be implemented which will significantly stimulate the next generation?s interest in nanomaterials and their applications and will improve America?s future competitiveness in nanotechnology.The objectives of this research are to significantly improve the wear resistance of the polytetrafluoroethylene coatings through: (1) increasing the bonding strength between the polydopamine underlayer and the polytetrafluoroethylene coating and (2) increasing the bonding strength among the polytetrafluoroethylene nanoparticles within the polytetrafluoroethylene coatings. Polydopamine-coated nanostructures of various materials, shapes, and sizes will be incorporated into both the polydopamine underlayer and polytetrafluoroethylene coatings. The effects of adding polydopamine coated nanostructures into the polydopamine underlayer and the polytetrafluoroethylene coating, as well as the effects of nanostructure material, shape, size, and concentration, on the adhesion strength, mechanical properties, and wear resistance of the polytetrafluoroethylene coatings will be studied. This research program will establish fundamental understanding of the roles of the polydopamine underlayer and the polydopamine coated nanostructures in improving the wear resistance of the polytetrafluoroethylene coatings for potential surface wetting and tribological applications. This research will provide valuable information necessary to guide the rational design of wear-resistant thin polytetrafluoroethylene coatings enabled by a polydopamine adhesive underlayer and polydopamine coated nanostructures.