Tuning the wettability of an aluminum surface via a chemically deposited fractal dendrite structure
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Published on: September 11, 2018
Duyang Zang1, Feng Li, Xingguo Geng
1Key Laboratory of Space Applied Physics and Chemistry of Ministry of Education, School of Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 710129, Xi'an, China. dyzang@nwpu.edu.cn
Abstract:
We have developed a straightforward method to tune the wettability of an aluminum substrate within a contact angle (CA) range from 2(°) to 170(°) by chemical deposition in CuCl2 solution and fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) modification. The CA of the as-deposited surface decreases with deposition time due to the growth of fractal copper dendrites, which enhance the surface roughness significantly. After subsequent modification with FAS, a superhydrophobic surface with CA 170(°) and sliding angle less than 5(°) has been obtained. With the increase of CA, the maximum spreading of water droplets is reduced. A bouncing behavior is observed for droplets impinging on the superhydrophobic substrate, suggesting its potential application as a self-cleaning surface.
