Improving Hydrophobicity of Glass Surface Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Treatment in Atmospheric Air

Non-thermal plasmas under atmospheric pressure are of great interest in industrialapplications,especially in material surface treatment.In this paper,the treatment of a glasssurface for improving hydrophobicity using the non-thermal plasma generated by dielectric barrierdischarge (DBD) at atmospheric pressure in ambient air is conducted,and the surface propertiesof the glass before and after the DBD treatment are studied by using contact angle measurement,surface resistance measurement and wet flashover voltage tests.The effects of the applied voltageand time duration of DBD on the surface modification are studied,and the optimal conditionsfor the treatment are obtained.It is found that a layer of hydrophobic coating is formed on theglass surface after spraying a thin layer of silicone oil and undergoing the DBD treatment,andthe improvement of hydrophobicity depends on DBD voltage and treating time.It seems thatthere exists an optimum treating time for a certain applied voltage of DBD during the surfacetreatment.The test results of thermal aging and chemical aging show that the hydrophobic layerhas quite stable characteristics.The interaction mechanism between the DBD plasma and theglass surface is discussed.It is concluded that CH3 and large molecule radicals can react with theradicals in the glass surface to replace OH,and the hydrophobicity of the glass surface is improvedaccordingly.