Abstract: Superhydrophobic surface was prepared on the zinc substrate by chemical solution method via immersing clean pure zinc substrate into a water solution of zinc nitrate hexahydrate[Zn(NO₃)₂·6H₂O] and hexamethylenetetraamine( C₆H₁₂N₄) at 95 ℃ in water bath for 1.5 h, then modified with 18 alkanethiol. The best resulting surface shows superhydrophobic properties with a water contact angle of about 158° and a low water roll-off angle of around 3°. The prepared samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDX), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). SEM images of the films show that the resulting surface exhibits flower-shaped micro- and nano-structure. The surfaces of the prepared films were composed of ZnO nanorods which were wurtzite structure. The special flower-like micro- and nano-structure along with the low surface energy leads to the surface superhydrophobicity.

Key words: Superhydrophobic, ZnO, Water contact angle, Chemical solution method