Biochar based self cleaning superhydrophobic surface with aqueous DESphobic properties

In this work, facile fabrication of chemically stable superhydrophobic surfaces based on biocompatible, fluorine free, carbon rich biochar has been reported. Biochar synthesized from dried rice straw by pyrol-ysis at 550 degrees C, which was characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The biochar coated surface demonstrated superhydrophobic behaviour with static water CA > 150 degrees. Aqueous drops remain in superhydrophobic state due to stability of Cassie-Baxter wet-ting regime and can shows very high-water contact angle (WCA > 160 degrees) and self-cleaning behaviour. Such a very high WCA have been achieved typically by combination of low energy chemicals (fluorine based) and surface textures. However, no harsh chemical treatment of biochar was performed and a simple methodology of creating biochar layer onto the substate was adopted. Such surface also demonstrated repellent properties against aqueous mixtures of deep eutectic solvent (DES). A spherical aqueous DES drop can be easily formed onto the biochar surface for image analysis. The density of the liquid sample with a small sample volume can be assessed using this drop shape that was measured on the superhy-drophobic biochar surface.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This work presents a facile method for fabricating chemically stable superhydrophobic surfaces using biocompatible, fluorine-free, carbon-rich biochar. The biochar was synthesized from dried rice straw through pyrolysis at 550 degrees C and characterized using FTIR and SEM. The biochar-coated surface exhibited superhydrophobic behavior with a static water contact angle greater than 150 degrees. The stability of the Cassie-Baxter wetting regime allowed the aqueous drops to remain in a superhydrophobic state, showing very high water contact angle (>160 degrees) and self-cleaning behavior. No harsh chemical treatment was performed on the biochar, and a simple method of creating a biochar layer on the substrate was adopted. The surface also demonstrated repellent properties against aqueous mixtures of deep eutectic solvent (DES), allowing for easy formation of spherical DES drops for image analysis and assessment of liquid sample density.