Rapid deposition of transparent super-hydrophobic layers on various surfaces using microwave plasma.

We report herein on a very fast and simple process for the fabrication of transparent superhydrophobic surfaces by using microwave (MW) plasma. It was found that the reaction of various organic liquids in MW argon plasma yields hydrophobic polymeric layers on a large assortment of surfaces, including glass, polymeric surfaces, ceramics, metals, and even paper. In most cases, these polymers are deposited as a rough layer composed of 10-15 nm nanoparticles (NPs).

Synthesis of ZnO and Zn nanoparticles in microwave plasma and their deposition on glass slides.

This work represents a new method to synthesis of ZnO and/or Zn nanoparticles by means of microwave plasma whose electrons are the reducing agents. Glass quadratic slides sized 2.5 x 2.

Reduction of titanium dioxide to metallic titanium conducted under the autogenic pressure of the reactants.

We report on a reaction to convert titanium dioxide to titanium. The reduction reaction was done under the autogenic pressure of the reactants at 750 degrees C for 5 h. The MgO, a by-product, was removed by acids to obtain pure metallic titanium.

Microwave-Assisted Coating of PMMA beads by silver nanoparticles.

Microwave (MW) irradiation was found to be a new technique for coating silver nanoparticles with an average size of approximately 31 nm onto the surface of poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA beads (3 mm diameter). The microwave polyol reduction was carried out under an argon atmosphere. Silver nanoparticles were obtained by the MW irradiation of a solution mixture containing silver nitrate (or silver acetate), poly(ethylene glycol), ethanol, water, and 24 wt % aqueous ammonia for 5 min in the presence of PMMA beads, yielding a PMMA-nanosilver composite.