Superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic copper coatings electrodeposited on copper substrate

Abstract

The aim of the paper was to determine electrochemical deposition conditions for superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic copper coatings on copper substrates. Through variable conditions of the two-stage electrodeposition process (cathode overpotential, process duration), copper layers with different wettability, i.e. high 150° and low contact angle 8°, were created. In particular, low wettability was achieved in the electrodeposition process involving low overpotential and long process time in the first stage, and high overpotential and short process time in the second stage. However, high wettability was obtained for stage I, including low overpotential and long time, and stage II, for low overpotential and long time. The morphology of the hierarchical layers was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope. The experiment suggests that the electrodeposited copper surface can exhibit stable wettability in real applications.

Keywords

• copper
• coatings
• electrodeposition
• wettability
• surface morphology