Temporal evolution of wetting transitions of graphene oxide coated on roughened polyvinyl chloride surfaces

Abstract In this work, the deposition of graphene oxide (GO) on roughened polyvinyl chloride (PVC) surfaces revealed contact angle changes from 16° to zero within 3 seconds when a 50 μL water drop was dispensed on them. When the water drop was dispensed 180 minutes after the surface was prepared, the contact angle changed from 32° to 4° after 35 seconds. Such time-dependent wetting transition was however not observed with GO deposited on glass nor on unroughened PVC surfaces. A mechanistic explanation for the observed temporal evolution of wetting properties was provided. Optical profilometry scans conducted provided insights on the effect of surface roughness on GO deposition characteristics after evaporation of the GO solution off the substrate surface. The substrate roughness and evaporation dependent temporal wetting transitions of graphene oxide (GO) coating found here is essential in various sensing, transporting, harvesting and actuating applications.