Chemical Vapor Deposition: Stable Dropwise Condensation for Enhancing Heat Transfer via the Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition (iCVD) of Grafted Polymer Films (Adv. Mater. 3/2014)

Steam condenses onto a hydrophobic grafted copoly mer film to form discrete condensate drops, leading to a seven-fold increase in heat transfer coefficient over a typical hydrophilic metal surface. Most hydrophobic modifiers quickly degrade in the presence of steam, but this covalently bonded crosslinked fluoropolymer withstands an accelerated endurance test with no change in performance, as described by Kripa K. Varanasi, Karen K. Gleason and co-workers on page 418.