Fabrication of superhydrophobic surface of stearic acid grafted zinc by using an aqueous plasma etching technique

Abstract

Abstract A stable superhydrophobic surface of stearic acid grafted zinc was fabricated with two steps, that is, the zinc surface was firstly treated with glow discharge electrolysis plasma (GDEP) and then followed by a grafted reaction of stearic acid onto the treated zinc surface. Results indicated that the wettability of zinc substrate changed from superhydrophily to superhyphodrobicity with a water contact angle (CA) up to 158° and a water sliding angle (SA) less than 5°. The surface morphology and composition were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively.