A one-step process to engineer superhydrophobic copper surfaces

Abstract Superhydrophobic surfaces are conventionally prepared employing two steps: roughening a surface and lowering their surface energy. In the present work, a direct voltage (DC) is applied between two copper plates immersed in a dilute ethanolic stearic acid solution. The surface of the anodic copper electrode transforms to superhydrophobic due to a reaction between copper and stearic acid solution. The fabrication process of superhydrophobic copper surfaces is simplified in just one-step. The surface of the anodic copper is found to be covered with flower-like low surface energy copper stearate films providing the water contact angle of 153 ± 2° with the roll-off properties.