ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Fabrication of stable ZnO/Zn–Al/Al₂O₃ superhydrophobic material on aluminum substrate for high photocatalytic and antibacterial activity

Asia Sultana, Noor Hassan, Shixiang Lu, Wenguo Xu, Mudasir Abbas, Mubashar Ilyas, Sundas Firdoos, and Maroof Ahmad Khan

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

E-mail: shixianglu@bit.edu.cn

Received: 10 December 2021  Accepted: 10 April 2022

Abstract:

A stable superhydrophobic ZnO/Zn–Al/Al₂O₃ surface (ZnSHS) was fabricated on Al substrate by etching in NaOH solution, immersion in the aqueous solution of Zn(NO₃)₂, and finally, thermal annealing treatment. Thus, theZnO/Zn–Al/Al₂O₃ SHS has shown the static water contact angle of 161 ± 1° and a dynamic sliding angle of 2°. The surface morphology, elemental composition, crystal structures, and chemical bonding of samples were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The anti-corrosion potential of the coated (ZnSHS) and non-coated Al substrates was analyzed by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and corrosion current density (I_corr) of ZnSHS decreased 3.97 times that of Al sheet. The antibacterial effect of ZnSHS was found almost 99.99% after 24 h. Photocatalytic activity of samples was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (M.B.) at 25 °C in a solution mixture of H₂O₂. M.B. was photodegraded up to 98.11% in the presence of ZnSHS with a rate constant of 4.997 × 10^–2 s⁻¹. The number of cycles of reusability of ZnSHS as photocatalysis was 12th. The present work offers a practical approach to fabricate superhydrophobic material on Al and its alloys for advanced engineering applications. The antibacterial effect was found up to 94.85%, even after the 19th cycle of continuously reusing the ZnSHS sample in the antibacterial experiments.

Keywords: Aluminum; Zinc; Superhydrophobicity; Antibacterial; Photodegradation; Methylene blue

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-022-02237-6

Chemical Papers 76 (8) 5159–5175 (2022)