Why Can Water Droplets Move Smoothly Even on Statically Hydrophilic Surfaces?

Studies on hydrophilic surfaces showing excellent water sliding properties are very rare, despite the numerous practical advantages they offer. One of the authors has recently developed a smooth, transparent and sufficiently-thick hydrophilic film with low contact angle hysteresis (5°) and small water tilt angles (6 ± 2°) through a simple sol–gel reaction of 2-[methoxy (ethyleneoxy)10propyl]trimethoxysilane (PEG-M) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). However, the origins of these unusual water sliding properties have not been clearly identified. As such, the impact of the addition of TEOS acting as a “nanospacer” or the identity of PEG terminal functional groups on the final static/dynamic wetting properties needs to be explored. In this study, we investigated the orientational/conformational states of PEG chains in PEG-M/TEOS and [hydroxy(ethyleneoxy)8–12propyl]triethoxysilane (PEG-OH)/TEOS hybrid films under wet and dry conditions using sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. We found that PEG-M/TEOS hybrid film surfaces had no marked differences in the conformational states of PEG chains under wet or dry conditions, resulting in excellent water sliding properties as there was no energy barrier for water droplet motion. In contrast, PEG chains were completely disordered after contact with water in the PEG-OH/TEOS hybrid films due to hydration effects. This large conformational change between the liquid/solid and gas/solid interface at the three-phase contact line resulted in an unfavorable energetic barrier for water droplet motion, leading to the poor water sliding properties. TEOS did not physically work as a “nanospacer,” but chemically worked as a binder to endow practically useful properties, such as good adhesion and versatility in substrates used, to our hybrid films.