Effect of different precursors, and method of fabrication on the properties of zinc stearate/oxide hierarchical superhydrophobic surfaces

In recent years, surfaces with superhydrophobicity have attracted immense interest in fundamental research due to their wide range of practical applications. ZnO surfaces with different morphologies and superhydrophobic property have been reported. In the present work, superhydrophobic zinc stearate/oxide coatings were obtained by one pot method, using two different precursors and stearic acid. The method used is simple as well as economical and can be scaled up easily. It avoids the use of harmful fluoro chemicals and the superhydrophobic surfaces can be obtained within an hour. The hydrophobicity of the thin films can be tuned and controlled by changing the added amount of precursors, type of precursors and time of immersion. The FESEM images shows that the zinc stearate flowers formed from different precursors are having different morphology. The superhydrophobic surface was achieved by the synergistic effect of surface roughness of zinc stearate and its own low surface energy. The coatings have been characterized by X-ray diffractometry and X-ray photo electron spectroscopy. The present work not only demonstrated a facile route for the preparation of zinc stearate hierarchical micro/ nanostructures, but also provides a very easy and effective method to fabricate superhydrophobic coatings in less time