Fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces with high adhesive forces towards water on steel substrates

The present Letter reports a simple and effective two-steps immersion method to fabricate superhydrphobic surfaces with high adhesive forces towards water on steel substrates. The steel plates were firstly immersed in the aqueous CuSO₄ solution for 20 s, and then immersed in the stearic acid ethanol solution for 24 h. The sample surfaces were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometry, X-ray diffraction and optical contact angle measurements. The results show that, after two-steps immersion processes, the cupric stearate microspheres with binary micro/nanometre-scale rough structures are formed on the steel surfaces. The as-prepared steel surfaces exhibit a good high adhesive superhydrophobicity with a 166.3 water contact angle and no rolling angle. The high adhesive superhydrophobic surfaces on steel substrates have a good potential application in no loss liquid transportation.