Abstract
Inspired by the co-coupling of the non-smooth structure and the waxy layer inducing the hydrophobicity of dragonfly wing surface, we developed a simple and versatile method to fabricate a superhydrophobic surface with the dragonfly wing structures. In this work, Ag nanorods grew on highly ordered anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) surface via a galvanic reduction approach. Then the AAO-Ag multilayer was fabricated. Furthermore, the surface free energy of AAO-Ag multilayer was reduced by modifying with perfluorodecanethiol. The modified AAO-Ag multilayer was superhydrophobic and the static contact angle reached as high as 168°. X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) were used to characterize the chemical structure of the obtained products. The morphologies of AAO-Ag multilayer was similar to microstructure of dragonfly wing surface and presented hierarchical rough structure. The results showed that the co-coupling of the rough structure and low surface free energy induced the superhydrophobic performance of the AAO-Ag multilayer surface.
Highlights
Inspired by the co-coupling of the non-smooth structure and the waxy layer inducing the hydrophobicity of dragonfly wing surface, we developed a simple and versatile method to fabricate a superhydrophobic surface with the dragonfly wing structures
The results showed that the co-coupling of the rough structure and low surface free energy induced the superhydrophobic performance of the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO)-Ag multilayer surface
The length of Ag nanorods synthesized on the surface of AAO is in the range of 50–70 nm, and the diameter is about 20 nm, which is clearly shown in the enlarged Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image
Summary
1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecanethiol (PDT) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co. (UK). All the other reagents used were of analytical reagents (AR) grade without further purification and was obtained from the Beijing Chem. Aluminum foils (99.999%, General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals, China) were annealed at 500°C for 2 h in nitrogen atmosphere and were cut into 1 cm 2 cm. Because Al foil surfaces were anodization in air and degreased, it was necessary to be etched in sodium hydroxide solution, rinsed in distilled water and dried by nitrogen gas. In a typical procedure [34], Al foils were electropolished for 90 s in a perchloric acid solution (perchloric acid: absolute ethanol =1:4) at 17 V and room temperature, were anodized in oxalic acid (0.3 mol/L) at 40 V and 4°C for 4 h with stirring. The first grown oxide layers were etched out completely with a chromic acid solution (1.5 wt% chromic acid and 6 wt% phosphoric acid in DI water)at 60°C , and a well-ordered porous AAO was grown by the second anodization for 4 h [35]
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