Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2008, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (1): 1-3.

• Articles •     Next Articles

Synthesis of Superhydrophobic Surface of Polyethylene via in Situ Ziegler-Natta Polymerization

ZHANG Chunyu1, CAI Hongguang1, CHEN Bin1, DONG Weimin1, MU Zhiyuan2, ZHANG Xuequan1*   

  1. 1 Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, Jilin, China; 2 Shandong Dongming Hengchang Petrochemical Co., Ltd., Dongming 274500, Shangdong, China
  • Received:2008-01-25 Online:2008-01-25 Published:2011-12-25

Abstract: A new strategy for fabricating polyethylene (PE) superhydrophobic surface by utilizing the feature of “morphology duplicating effect” of Ziegler-Natta catalyst was investigated. The Ziegler-Natta catalyst components (MgCl2 and TiCl4) were first intercalated in between the montmorillonite (MMT) gallery and then the PE/MMT nanocomposite was prepared via in situ Ziegler-Natta polymerization. The surface morphology of PE/MMT was highly rough with a petal-like microstructure. The film made from such nanocomposite has the superhydrophobic performance with a water contact angle of (152.2±0.8)° without any modification by the low surface free energy material.

Key words: superhydrophobicity, Ziegler-Natta catalyst, montmorillonite, duplication effect