Superhydrophobic iron material surface with flower-like structures obtained by a facile self-assembled monolayer

A simple and economical route based on a K₂CO₃ mediated process was developed to synthesize three-dimensional (3D) flower-like Fe₃O₄ micro/nanoflakes on the surface of iron plates by a direct in-situ hydrothermal synthesis method. The prepared micro/nanoflakes were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the width of the nanoflakes ranges from 50 to 100 nm, and the length of the flakes is about 3 μm. The morphology of Fe₃O₄ nanostructures can be tuned from simple isolated nanoflakes to the ordered 3D flower-like shape by increasing the reaction temperature. The wettability of the surface with 3D flower-like micro/nanoflakes was changed from hydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity by chemical modification with vinyl tirethoxy-silane. The static contact angles for water on both of the modified surfaces were larger than 150°, which was closely related to the chemical modification and hierarchical structure. Furthermore, the surfaces retained good superhydrophobic stability in long-term storage as well, which should be critical to the application of iron materials in engineering.