TedEd: Why doesn’t anything stick to Teflon?

A TedEd by Ashwini Bharathula

Teflon was used for Apollo-era spacesuits, Manhattan Project pipes, and in non-stick pans in your kitchen. So what is this solid, and why is it so slippery? Teflon is the DuPont brand name for Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE. In 1938, Roy Plunkett was trying to create a non-toxic refrigerant for DuPont, a chemical company, when he created PTFE instead. The substance he created was chemically inert, or didn't interact with other substances. It also had a low coefficient of friction, so other materials slid off of it easily. This means Teflon is useful for anything water resistant, chemically resistant, or slippery. Teflon is a polymer, which is made of long chains of repeating atoms. The center atoms are carbon, each with 2 fluorines attached. The fluorine atoms wind tightly around the carbon, creating a sort of armor. They react so strongly to each other that all the other chemical properties that make atoms stick together don't work. So how does PTFE, which doesn't stick to anything, end up on a pan? The pan is made so that there are rough surfaces on it, then coated with a top-secret glue formula. This is then coated with Teflon and ultra-heated so that it becomes a slick surface. Teflon is usually safe, but it starts to release bad fumes at temperatures over 500 degrees Fahrenheit, so you should be careful. There may also be risks in the manufacturing of the material. DuPont and its subsidiary face charges over exposing employees and the environment to a toxic substance called PFOA used in Teflon.