Effect of stearic acid as a low cost and green material on the self-cleaning and anti-corrosion behavior of anodized titanium

Abstract

A simple and highly effective route for preparation of superhydrophobic titanium (Ti) surface by single-step anodization in an organic electrolyte and subsequent stearic acid modification is suggested in this paper. Ti was anodized to produce micro-nano hierarchical morphology, which is extremely important for superhydrophobic surface. The anodized Ti was then treated with stearic acid to reduce surface energy. Surface morphology and structure of the anodized surfaces was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy were utilized to specify chemical composition of superhydrophobic surfaces. The morphology of the surfaces was modified by adjusting anodizing parameters such as time (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 h) and voltage (5, 20, 35 and 50 V). The results showed that static water contact angle and contact angle hysteresis on the best superhydrophobic Ti surface (with anodizing parameters of 3 h and 35 V) are 160.1° ± 0.5˚ and 7°, respectively. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic surface obtained has an acceptable self-cleaning and anticorrosion properties.