Optimum conditions for fabricating superhydrophobic surface on copper plates via controlled surface oxidation and dehydration processes

The superhydrophobic surfaces on copper substrate were fabricated by direct oxidation and dehydration processes, and the reaction and modification conditions were optimized. Firstly, the oxidation conditions including the concentrations of K2S2O8 and NaOH, the oxidation time were studied. It is found that the superhydrophobicity would be better if the copper plates were oxidized in 0.06 M K2S2O8 and 3.0 M NaOH solution at 65 °C for 35 min. Then, the modification conditions including modifier concentration and modification time were investigated. The results showed that 5 wt% lauric acid and 1 h modification time were suitable modification conditions for preparing copper-based superhydrophobic surfaces. The surface fabricated under optimized conditions displayed excellent superhydrophobicity of high water contact angle of 161.1° and a low contact angle hysteresis of 2.5°. The surface microstructure and composition of the superhydrophobic surfaces were also characterized by SEM and FT-IR. It is found that the highly concentrated micro/nanostructured sheets and the low surface energy materials on the surface should be responsible for the high superhydrophobicity.