Construction of super-hydrophobic iron with a hierarchical surface structure

Wettability of an iron surface is crucial for the wide applications of iron in practice. In this work, a hierarchical structure highly similar to that of the underside of a bamboo leaf was constructed on an iron surface via the template method and controllable etching. After modification by stearic acid, the iron surface with hierarchical structure showed excellent water repellency, with an average contact angle of 156 degrees and a sliding angle of 3 degrees. X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) are applied to examine the chemical components of an iron surface.