I was wondering if there is a simple and easy way to treat the tubing surface to make it highly hydrophobic.
Here is what I am trying to do: the spiral-shape tubing will be filled with continuous phase (oil : 1.6g/ml), and hydrogels will float up through the tubing. But the tubing is hydrophilic and because of that, hydrogels adhere to the wall surface and they do not move along the tubing. I want to make the tubing surface hydrophobic so that hydrogels can be carried away by the continuous phase easily. (I tried to find hydrophobic tubings but hard to find "spiral-shape (spring-shape)" ones. Does anybody know if there is a way to coat or treat the tubing?
Molecular vapor deposition of FDTS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane
Is about as hydrophobic as you can get without adding microstructure or nanoparticles. There are many companies that can do this.
The Perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane is a good suggestion, but whether or not it makes a good coating depends on what the tubing is made from. Capillary GC columns are treated with silicone gum solutions in toluene or occasionally silane modified poly butadiene. See: https://www.gelest.com/themencode-pdf-viewer/?file=https://www.gelest.com/wp-content/uploads/Hydrophobicity-Hydrophilicity_and_Silane_Surface_Modification.pdf
I think you can use plasma technology for hydrophobicity or dip coating your tubing in PDMS solution.
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