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  • Facile synthesis, growth mechanism and reversible superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic properties of non-flaking CuO nanowires grown from porous copper substrates.

Facile synthesis, growth mechanism and reversible superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic properties of non-flaking CuO nanowires grown from porous copper substrates.

Nanotechnology (2013-01-24)
Qiao bao Zhang, Daguo Xu, Tak Fu Hung, Kaili Zhang
ABSTRACT

Reversible superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces based on porous substrates covered with CuO nanowires are developed in this study. A facile thermal oxidation method is used to synthesize non-flaking bicrystalline CuO nanowires on porous copper substrates in static air. The effects of thermal oxidation temperature and duration are systemically studied. The growth mechanism of the obtained non-flaking CuO nanowires is presented and the compression stress is believed to be the key driving force. The wettability of the CuO nanowires after chemical modification with trichloro(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)silane is systemically investigated. The porous substrates covered with CuO nanowires exhibit excellent superhydrophobic performance with almost no water adhesion and no apparent drag resistance, and a maximum static water contact angle of 162 ± 2° is observed. Moreover, a rapid reversibly switchable wettability between superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic states is realized by the alternation of air-plasma treatment and surface fluorination. The porous substrates covered with CuO nanowires will find promising applications in surface and corrosion protection, liquid transportation, oil-water separation, and self-cleaning surfaces.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
Copper(II) oxide, 99.999% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Copper(II) oxide, powder, 99.99% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Copper(II) oxide, powder, 99.995% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Copper(II) oxide, nanopowder, <50 nm particle size (TEM)
Sigma-Aldrich
Copper(II) oxide, needles, mixture of CuO and Cu2O, ACS reagent
Sigma-Aldrich
Copper(II) oxide, ACS reagent, ≥99.0%
Sigma-Aldrich
Copper(II) oxide on alumina, 14-30 mesh, extent of labeling: 13 wt. % loading
Sigma-Aldrich
Copper(II) oxide, powder, <10 μm, 98%