Facile fabrication of superhydrophobic surface with micro/nanoscale binary structures on aluminum substrate

The present work reports a simple method to produce the aluminum superhydrophobic surface based on an interface reaction between an aluminum foil and zinc aqueous solution. The products were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectrum. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy images show that the coating surface is composed of micro/nanoscale binary structure, which is similar to the structure of lotus leaf. The wettability of the coating surface was also investigated. It was found that after treatment with stearic acid, the wettability of the aluminum foil changed from superhydrophilic to water-repellent superhydrophobic. The complex micro/nanoscale binary structures along with the low surface energy lead to the high surface superhydrophobicity.     

A simple solution-immersion process for the fabrication of superhydrophobic cupric stearate surface with easy repairable property

The present work reports a simple and time-saving method to fabricate cupric stearate film on zinc substrate by a solution-immersion process. Superhydrophobic surfaces are conventionally prepared employing two steps: roughening a surface and lowering its surface energy. The fabrication of superhydrophobic cupric stearate surface is reported using a one-step process by immersing a zinc plate coated with copper into the stearic acid solution, simplifying the complexity of two different steps involved in the conventional methods. The surface of the zinc plate coated with copper is found to be covered with low surface energy cupric stearate film providing the water contact angle of 160 ± 1° with the rolling off properties. In addition, the damaged superhydrophobic surface can restore superhydrophobicity property by immersing the surface into the stearic acid solution again.     

Facile fabrication of superhydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene surface by cold pressing and sintering

A series of superhydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) surfaces were prepared by a facile cold pressing and sintering method, and their microstructures and wetting behaviors could be artificially tailored by altering sintering temperature and using different masks. Specifically, the microstructures mainly depended on the sintering temperature, whereas the wetting behaviors, water contact angle (WCA) and sliding angle (SA), greatly hinged on both the sintering temperature and mask. Then a preferable superhydrophobic surface with WCA of 162 ± 2° and SA of 7° could be obtained when the sintering temperature was 360 °C and the 1000 grit abrasive paper was used as a mask. In addition, it was worth noting that the as-prepared surfaces exhibited excellent stability under UV illumination, which was the most key factor for them toward practical applications.     

Controllable fabrication of lotus-leaf-like superhydrophobic surface on copper foil by self-assembly

A novel approach was developed to fabricate a lotus-leaf-like superhydrophobic surface on a copper foil by simple self-assembly method with the assistance of the porous PDMS template which was used to adjust the oxidized parts of the copper foil surface before self-assembly. The results showed a series of beautiful flower-like microstructures resulting from the self-assembly of cupric stearate that were distributed at regular intervals on the as-prepared copper foil surface similar to the papillae of lotus leaf surface. The water contact angle of the as-prepared copper surface was up to 161° and its sliding angle was only 3°. Its great superhydrophobicity could be kept unchanged after 6 months in air. The formation mechanism of the lotus-leaf-like structure was discussed. This simple and low-cost method is expected to be applied to design and prepare complicated superhydrophobic surfaces with beautiful regular microstructures on different substrates such as stainless steel, zinc, and so on.     

The fabrication of superhydrophobic copper films by a low-pressure-oxidation method

The lotus-leaf-like superhydrophobic copper was fabricated by a facile two-step method without the chemical modification, on which the water contact angle can reach 158° and the water-sliding angle is less than 10°. Reversible superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity transition was observed and controlled by alternation of UV irradiation and dark storage. More interestingly, the superhydrophobic surface exhibits superoleophilicity and all those properties can be well used in reversible switch, separating the water and oil and so on.     

Mechanism of aluminum hydroxide layer formation by surface modification of aluminum

In this study, a new, relatively simple and rapid fabrication method for forming an Al(OH)₃ film on Al substrates was demonstrated. This method, i.e., alkali surface modification, is simply comprised of dipping the substrate in a 5 × 10⁻³ M NaOH solution at 80 °C for 1 min and then immersing it in boiling water for 30 min. After alkali surface modification, an Al(OH)₃ film was formed on Al substrate, and its chemical state and crystal structure were confirmed by XPS and TEM. The Al(OH)₃ layer was composed of three regions: an amorphous-rich region, a region of mixed amorphous and crystal domains, and a crystalline-rich region near the Al(OH)₃ layer surface.     

A novel simple approach to preparation of superhydrophobic surfaces of aluminum alloys

A novel two-step methodology is successfully developed to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces of aluminum alloys. The essential procedure is that samples are first immersed and etched in a boiling aqueous solution of NaOH for 5 min without preprocessing, and then they are modified for 30 min in an ethanol solution of lauric acid, cheaper and more efficient than the fluorinated silane frequently adopted by other researchers. If the concentration of NaOH solution is larger than 5 g/L, the contact angle of the prepared surfaces will be larger than 150° with a negligible hysteresis. Such a fast, low-cost, and reliable method for superhydrophobic surfaces implies significant promising industrial applications.     

Stable superhydrophobic surface with hierarchical mesh-porous structure fabricated by a femtosecond laser

Inspired by the lotus leaf, a new superhydrophobic surface with hierarchical mesh-porous structure is fabricated by femtosecond laser irradiation on silicon. The fabricated surface shows a superhydrophobic character with water contact angle being found to reach up to 158^°±1^° and sliding angle of 4^°±0.5^°. The superhydrophobicity is stable even if the PH of solution changes from 1 to 14. And the surface also exhibits excellent self-cleaning effect and bouncing behavior, implying that the adhesion of the surface is extremely low. This work will enhance further understanding of the wettability of a solid surface with special surface morphology.     

A simple method for the preparation of superhydrophobic PVDF-HMFS hybrid composite coatings

A superhydrophobic surface was obtained by embedding hydrophobically modified fumed silica (HMFS) particles in polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix. The water contact angle (WCA) on the PVDF-HMFS hybrid composite coating is influenced by the content and nature of silica particles in the coating. As the silica concentration in PVDF matrix was increased from 33.3% to 71.4%, WCA increased from 117° to 168° and the sliding angle decreased from 90° to <1°. Surface topography of the coating was examined using scanning electron microscopy. An irregular rough surface structure composed of microcavities and nanofilaments was found to be responsible for the superhydrophobicity. The method is simple and cost-effective and can be used for preparing self-cleaning superhydrophobic coating on large areas of different substrates.     

A simple way to fabricate an aluminum sheet with superhydrophobic and self-cleaning properties

<正>A superhydrophobic aluminum sheet is fabricated via a hot water immersing process and subsequently surface modification with heptadecafluorodecyltrimethoxy-silane(HTMS).As revealed by the scan electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD),and Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometer(FTIR) results,a rough pseudoboehmite film is formed on the aluminum sheet,and HTMS molecules are grafted on the film surface successfully.These two factors make the treated aluminum sheet present superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle larger than 160°and sliding angle less than 5°,and possess a self-cleaning property.Furthermore,the flexible superhydrophobic aluminum sheet could be pasted to a cylinder surface without destroying its superhydrophobicity.At the end,the effect of hot water treatment time on superhydrophobicity is investigated.     

A novel fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces for universal applicability

The present work reports a novel and facile approach to fabricate stable superhydrophobic surfaces for universal applicability in practice. Poly(furfuryl alcohol)/copper composite coatings were prepared on substrates via a brush-painting method; after being immersed in a stearic acid solution, the superhydrophobic surfaces were obtained due to the formation of copper stearate on the substrates. These products were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, X-ray powder diffraction and the X-ray photoelectron spectrum. Results demonstrate that the superhydrophobic surfaces formed originally on copper substrates can also be generated on other substrates without the copper element. Furthermore, this work will provide a simple and universal method to create large-scale superhydrophobic surfaces on various substrates.     

Fabrication of superhydrophobic surface of hierarchical ZnO thin films by using stearic acid

Flower-like hierarchical ZnO microspheres were successfully synthesized by a simple, template-free, and low-temperature aqueous solution route. The morphology and microstructure of the ZnO microspheres were examined by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The bionic films with hydrophobicity were fabricated by the hierarchical ZnO microspheres modified by stearic acid. It was found that the hydrophobicity of the thin films was very sensitive to the added amount of stearic acid. The thin films modified with 8% stearic acid took on strong superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle (CA) almost to be 178° and weak adhersion. The remarkable superhydrophobicity could be attributed to the synergistic effect of micro/nano hierarchical structure of ZnO and low surface energy of stearic acid.     

Controlled growth of superhydrophobic films by sol-gel method on aluminum substrate

Superhydrophobic surface was prepared by sol-gel method on aluminum substrate via immersing the clean pure aluminum substrate into the solution of zinc nitrate hexahydrate (Zn(NO₃)₂·6H₂O) and hexamethylenetetraamine (C₆H₁₂N₄) at different molar ratios and unchanged 0.04 mol/L total concentration, then heated at 95 °C in water bath for 1.5 h, subsequently modified with 18 alkanethiols or stearic acid. When the molar ratios of Zn(NO₃)₂·6H₂O and C₆H₁₂N₄ were changed from 10:1 to 1:1 the contact angle was higher than 150°. The best prepared surface had a high water contact angle of about 154.8°, as well as low angle hysteresis of about 3°. The surface of prepared films using Zn(NO₃)₂·6H₂O and C₆H₁₂N₄ composed of ZnO and Zn-Al LDH, and Al. SEM images of the film showed that the resulting surface exhibits different flower-shaped wurtzite zinc oxide microstructure and porous Zn-Al LDH. The special flowerlike and porous architecture, along with the low surface energy leads to the surface superhydrophobicity.     

A simple method for surface and ultrathin film characterization

The method depends on monitoring variations of secondary electron emission as a function of changes in surface structure and composition. By measuring the crystal current i_cc and its variation with incident beam energy, E, surface changes can be measured rapidly and precisely. The principle of the method is already used qualitatively in secondary electron emission microscopy. If E is adjusted to give zero crystal current (E_zcc), and changes are followed from either variations in i_cc or E_zcc, then the measurements obtained during adorption are comparable to (but can be more precise than) those obtained from Auger spectroscopy. Results are presented for copper surfaces during cleaning cycles and during the adsorption of lead overlayers. Various applications can be envisaged, especially for rapid changes during segregation, diffusion or desorption.     

A novel and expeditious method to fabricate superhydrophobic metal carboxylate surface

This article has presented a novel method to fabricate superhydrophobic metal carboxylate surface on substrates like copper, ferrum, etc. This method markedly shortened the fabrication time to less than one second. The superhydrophobic effect is even better that the contact angle (CA) is 170±1° and the sliding angle (SA) <2°. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed micro-nano flower-like structures. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed that the flower-like structures are composed of Cu[CH₃(CH₂)₁₂COO]₂. The ethanol solution containing fatty acid and metal salt plays a key role in this method. This method has tremendous potentials in industrial production of superhydrophobic materials.     

A simple and accurate method for analysis of dielectric periodic structures

A simple and accurate approach for analysis of dielectric periodic structures is proposed in this paper. The method combines the coupled-mode theory with Floquet theory and joins the eigenmode expansion with the space harmonic expansion properly. As a result, the whole analysis procedure is significantly simplifid. Numerical results for the filter characteristics of some dielectric periodic structures show that the present method is effective, accurate and useful.Supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China and The Foundation of State Educational Commission.     

Normal-incidence pulsed-laser deposition: better method for fabrication of multilayer structures

A new normal-incidence pulsed-laser deposition method is presented. Fe/Mn multilayers were fabricated using both 45°- and normal-incidence deposition of a pulsed laser and were characterized using the small-angle X-ray reflectivity measurement. This new method provides much better control of the lateral uniformity and layer thickness than the 45°-incidence deposition method.