Constructing Superhydrophobic Surface on Copper Substrate with Dealloying-Forming and Solution-Immersion Method

Abstract

In this study, a superhydrophobic surface was constructed on a copper substrate through dealloying-forming and solution-immersion methods. The dealloying process for nanostructures on a copper surface involved the electrodeposition of zinc atoms, and the thermal alloying and chemical dealloying of zinc atoms. Then, a dealloyed copper surface was subsequently modified with low-surface-energy copper stearate to produce a superhydrophobic surface. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry were employed to characterize the morphological features and composition components of the surface in the fabrication process. The static contact angles of the copper surfaces were compared and evaluated based on various fabrication parameters, including electric current density, corrosive solution concentration, and nanostructures. The results indicated that a leaf-like copper stearate could be constructed through immersing a dealloyed copper plate into a 0.005 mol/L ethanol solution of stearic acid for 5 min. Nanostructures provided more attachment areas on the copper surface to facilitate the formation of copper stearate. The resulting as-prepared surface presented excellent superhydrophobic properties with a contact angle of over 156.5°, and showed the potential properties of non-sticking, self-cleaning, anti-corrosion, and stability. This study provides an efficient approach to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces for engineering copper metals.

Preparation and Characterization of Stable Superhydrophobic Copper Foams Suitable for Treatment of Oily Wastewater

“…This is probably ascribed to the extending coverage of the copper substrate with the flower-like copper stearate morphologies that either cover the original silver leaf morphologies or destroy them during the stacking of the nanosheets of the copper stearate. Similar behavior was observed in [49] where the copper stearate morphologies prevailed over all other formed nanostructures when the immersion time was increased. detachment.…”

“…The acidic environment of the ethanolic stearic acid solution oxides the copper and releases Cu 2+ ions which are then captured by the stearic acid and precipitate as copper stearate, as confirmed by FTIR analysis, in the form of nanosheets. Possible occurring reaction is shown in Equation ( 3) [49]:…”

Superhydrophobic modified electrodeposited copper surface for fog harvesting

“…20 Electrodeposition stands out as a well-established industrial process that can be used in superhydrophobic surface fabrication due to its facility, scalability, and high efficiency. Various metals, including nickel, 21 nickel graphite, 12 zinc, 22,23 and copper 24,25 have been successfully deposited for this purpose. In most cases, a modification step completes the superhydrophobization procedure.…”

Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Porous Brass by Chemical Dealloying for Efficient Emulsion Separation

“…For example, Jie et al demonstrated a combining dealloying and heating approach to achieve a superhydrophobic surface on brass [ 25 ]. Li et al prepared a superhydrophobic copper substrate through a dealloying and subsequent coating method [ 26 ]. Although the dealloying technique without surface coating has been utilized to acquire the superhydrophobicity on alloy surfaces [ 26 , 27 ], the development of the superhydrophobic membrane only by dealloying for oil/water separation has not been reported previously.…”