Superamphiphilic Ag–CNTs electrode by atmosphere plasma treatment

Abstract As superamphiphilic surfaces (both of their contact angles of water and oil ≈ 0°) are generally made by controlling the surface chemistry and surface roughness of various expensive materials, we described a simple and inexpensive method for forming a superamphiphilic surface and a suitable selection of plasma treatment to control the surface roughness. Moreover, a simple approach to decorate carbon nanotube (CNT) with silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) was developed. Nanostructure of the silver particles was confirmed by transmission electron microscopic (TEM) analysis. And then the Ag@CNTs was employed as an electrode on copper foils. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of argon atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) treatment on the change of surface amphiphilicity of Ag@CNTs electrodes. In order to characterize their surface physicochemical properties, contact angle measurement, SEM, and XPS were carried out. Meanwhile, the surface free energy calculated by the Owens–Wendt (OW) method increased a lot while showing a very small value of polar component, and base components (proton donor) increased a lot by Acid–base method. Finally, XPS results indicated that a small amount of hydrophilic functional groups were increased, which may results in hydrophilic surface. And according to SEM, the surface morphology was changed a lot, which was the most important factor in forming superamphiphilicity. This method can be applied to a variety of surfaces of underlying materials.