Facile fabrication of hydrophobic cellulose-based organic/inorganic nanomaterial modified with POSS by plasma treatment.

A novel hydrophobic cellulose-based organic/inorganic nanomaterial (cellulose/TS-POSS) was prepared by oxygen plasma treatment followed by condensation reaction with TriSilanollsobutyl-Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane. By careful design of cellulose film modified with TS-POSS by plasma etching, not only simply activated the hydroxyl groups on fiber surface, but also lowered the surface energy and increased the surface roughness. The surface morphology, chemical structure, thermal properties, and hydrophobic properties of cellulose/TS-POSS materials were systematically investigated by FTIR, SEM, AFM, CA, and TGA, respectively. The experimental results showed that the static water contact angle of cellulose/TS-POSS was 152.9°, demonstrating super-hydrophobicity. The results indicated that the TS-POSS were observed uniformly dispersed in the cellulose at the nanometer scale to form nanostructures, successful bonding to cellulose through condensation reaction. This process developed in this paper provided new solutions and approximations for the facile fabrication of sustainable cellulose-based hydrophobic materials.