Fabrication of Water Jet Resistant and Thermally Stable Superhydrophobic Surfaces by Spray Coating of Candle Soot Dispersion

A facile synthesis method for highly stable carbon nanoparticle (CNP) dispersion in acetone by incomplete combustion of paraffin candle flame is presented. The synthesized CNP dispersion is the mixture of graphitic and amorphous carbon nanoparticles of the size range of 20-50 nm and manifested the mesoporosity with an average pore size of 7 nm and a BET surface area of 366 m(2)g(-1). As an application of this material, the carbon nanoparticle dispersion was spray coated (spray-based coating) on a glass surface to fabricate superhydrophobic (water contact angle > 150 degrees and sliding angle < 10 degrees) surfaces. The spray coated surfaces were found to exhibit much improved water jet resistance and thermal stability up to 400 degrees C compared to the surfaces fabricated from direct candle flame soot deposition (candle-based coating). This study proved that water jet resistant and thermally stable superhydrophobic surfaces can be easily fabricated by simple spray coating of CNP dispersion gathered from incomplete combustion of paraffin candle flame and this technique can be used for different applications with the potential for the large scale fabrication.