Highlights

Hundreds of person-years have been spent during this decade to prepare that exhibit high water contact angles. McCarthy recently reported contact angle studies of compressed samples of a commercially available lubricant (variable diameter submicron particles of tetrafluoroethylene oligomers - OTFE) that indicate that this surface is perfectly hydrophobic (qA/qR = 180°/180°). They also reported XPS spectra, a SEM micrograph and 19F NMR characterization data, as it is a material for which no characterization data are available. These samples exhibit the most general lyophobicity of any material reported, showing nearly 180° contact angles with other liquids. That this material is commercially available (in kilogram quantities) will allow other groups, particularly non-synthetic ones, to prepare and study perfectly hydrophobic surfaces