Two Step Fabrication Of Superhydrophobic Surface On Aluminium With Environmental Stability

Abstract

. The unique superhydrophobic property of lotus leaf, encouraged researchers to fabricate artificial superhydrophobic surfaces (SHs) adopting different methods. The purpose of this work is to attempt a modest, robust and environmentally safeprocedure to build a superhydrophobic surface on aluminium substrate by wet-chemical grafting. The substrate after few pretreatments like mechanical, chemical etching, anodizing at different current density and at different time duration was immersed in a solution containing sodium hydroxide in deionized water, lauric acid in ethanol. The effect of duration of anodization and sealing on the production of superhydrophobic surface was highlighed. Using Scanning Electron Micrsocopy (SEM) the surface morphology of the bare aluminium substrate and superhydrophobic surface. Using static water contact angle (WCA) measurements the non-wetting property of the as such fabricated superhydrophboic surface was studied and compared with the bare aluminium substrate. The corrosion resistance of the fabricated superhydrophobic surface in 3.5 % NaCl medium was examined by potentiodynamic polarization method and compared with the bare aluminium substrate. The fabricated SHs showsvery good corrosion resistance in comparison with the bare aluminiuim substrate in 3.5 % NaCl medium..