Fabrication of super hydrophobic by using nano particle

Haydermahmood35@ntu.edu.iq
‫م حيدر محمود حميد‬.‫م‬
‫ كركوك قسم هندسة تقنيات الوقود والطاقة‬/ ‫تدريسي في كلية هندسة النفط والغاز‬

Nanoparticles are capable of making more durable and stronger materials with
better chemical resistance. They are used for a wide range of applications.
Likewise, the potential of metal nanoparticles as antimicrobial agents has been
widely studied. In this work, we investigate various nanoparticles (stearic acid,
zno, Ag) incorporated into epoxy coating. The anticorrosion and antibacterial
properties of the unmodified and modified coatings were evaluated. According to
the SEM and EDS analyses, the coating did not contain agglomerates, which
confirms the quality of the dispersion of inorganic nanoparticles in the coating,
the corrosion behaviour for all nanocomposite was studied by means of EIS
investigations. The study included the evaluation of the inhibition zone of the
nanoparticles and the antimicrobial properties of the nanocomposite. It was found
that the nanoparticles of Al and Ag provide excellent antibacterial properties. The
epoxy nanocomposite with Al NP showed the migration of ions in the range from
0.75 to 1 mg/L in a wastewater solution for 30 days, indicating a potential for
antimicrobe activity. The 1% Al NP epoxy nanocomposite showed good
anticorrosion and antibacterial properties and demonstrated great potential for
applications in pipelines.
The 21st century is marked by the study of nanotechnology and the production of
nanostructured materials. Nanoparticles (NPs) are a wide class of materials that
includes particulate substances with sizes between 1 and 100 nm .The use of
nanoparticles in different fields such as molecular biology, physics, organic and
inorganic chemistry, medicine, and material science is of growing interest in
future applications . In recent years, scientists and researchers have been
motivated to develop coatings with new features, such as the possibility of the
migration of substances due to the improvement of anticorrosive and antibacterial
properties. As a result, nanoparticles began to be incorporated into the polymer
material. The material obtained was defined as a nanocomposite, which implies
a composition of at least two immiscible phases, and one of them in the nanometer
scale . The ability of nanocomposite material to release nanoparticles is
considered very harmful if applied in the food packaging industry , but its
application on the surface of drainage pipes is a new idea for protection against
microorganisms. Cast iron pipes have been widely used in water distribution
systems formore than 150 years due to their high mechanical strength and cost
effectiveness . With the development of urbanization and industrialization, the
amount of wastewater produced and discharged increased significantly year by
year. Consequently, problems such as corrosion, damage, a reduction in the water
transport capacity, and an increase in the habitat of pathogenic and opportunistic
bacteria

Aim of the project

The aim of using the project by using superhydrophobic coating with ZnO/epoxy
to anti-corrosion and anti-bacterial is to protect the surface from water and
bacteria, which can cause damage and infection. Water and bacteria can interact
with the surface and initiate electrochemical reactions that lead to corrosion,
which is the deterioration of the material. Corrosion can reduce the strength,
durability, and functionality of the surface, as well as increase the maintenance
cost and environmental impact. Bacteria can also form biofilms on the surface,
which are slimy layers of microorganisms that adhere to each other and the
surface. Biofilms can cause infections, diseases, and fouling, which is the
accumulation of unwanted substances on the surface. Fouling can affect the heat
transfer, fluid flow, and quality of the surface, as well as increase the energy
consumption and cleaning cost

Preparation of ZnO Nanorods

0.1 mol l-1 solution of zinc hexahydrate and 0.1 mol l-1 solution of HMT were
measured at 100 ml respectively. The twosolutions were mixed and stirred
magnetically for 12 h at 80 °C. The products were centrifuged with deionized
water and anhydrous ethanol for several times, and then dried in a vacuum
drying box at 80 °C for 12 h. Therefore, ZnO nanorods with high photocatalytic
activity was obtained

Preparation of ZnO nanospheres

2.74 g zinc acetate dihydrate and 2.4 g citric acid were added to 60 ml 1 mol l-1
solution of NaOH and stirred for 30 min. Then, the mixture was transferred to
100 ml hydrothermal kettle, sealed and kept at 160 °C for 4 h, and centrifuged
for 4–5 times. ZnO nanospheres can be obtained by vacuum drying to constant
weight at 60 °C.
Preparation of the two morphologies ZnO NPs hydrophobic materials

The preparation of superhydrophobic ZnO NPs with two morphologies is shown

in figure 1 above. 10% molar ratio of stearic acid were weighed and dissolved in
60 ml ethanol solution by ultrasonic crushing. The ZnO NPs with different
morphologies of 0.2 g was weighed and added to stearic acid solution. After a
certain time of magnetic stirring at 70 C temperatures, the sample was naturally
aged in clean air for 1 h. [https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1591/ab4ec5]
The superhydrophobic ZnO/stearic acid composites can be obtained by
centrifugal washing with ethanol for 4–5 times and vacuum drying at 120 °C to
constant weight. In order to characterize the wettability of the prepared
samples, the suspension was spin-coated on the treated glass sheet (2500 r min-
1, 20 s) and cured at 140 °C for 1.5 h to obtain super hydrophobic coating.

Chemical reaction mechanism analysis

The growth of ZnO nanorods is generally considered to be the hydrolysis of Zn2+

in an alkaline environment, which is derived from the hydrolysis of HMT
(C6H12N4) . The breakdown of HMT in water can provide hydroxide ions (OH-
) and ammonia ions (NH4 +). In this experiment, Zn OH ( )4 2-complexes were
formed in the solution and became the precursor of ZnO . The chemical reaction
in thesolution can be expressed as:
The synthesis of ZnO nanospheres was accomplished under strong base (NaOH)
conditions. In the strong alkali environment, ZnO crystal grows rapidly along the
ZnO polar surface (0001) with a positive charge ending in Zn, which leads to the
formation of linear or rod-like materials . After adding citric acid and ethanol,
zinc ions and citrate ions formed complex chelating rings because of the hydroxyl
and carboxyl groups in citric acid . Ethanol promoted the formation of oxygen
vacancies on the surface of precursors in solvothermal environment, enhanced
the role of citric acid, inhibited the growth of materials in (0001) direction, and
enabled materials to grow in other directions. Eventually, irregular ZnO
nanospheres were formed. The reactions are shown in the following formula:

The surface of unmodified ZnO NPs is hydrophilic due to its large number of
hydroxyl groups. Because of its high surface energy, irregular aggregates and
aggregates are easily formed in aqueous solution, which also conforms to the
phenomenon that nano-sized materials are easy to agglomerate. The
agglomeration effect limits the further application of ZnO NPs. It can be modified
by lowsurface energy materials to inhibit the agglomeration effect and make them
have better dispersion. As a low surface energy substance, stearic acid is
composed of non-polar hydrophobic alkane long chain and hydrophilic carboxyl
group. When ZnO NPs is immersed in stearic acid solution under certain
conditions, carboxyl groups in stearic acid react with a large number of hydroxyl
groups on thesurface of the ZnO. The low surface energy materials coated on the
ZnO surface not only have hydrophobic properties but also inhibit the
agglomeration of ZnO NPs. The reaction mechanism is shown in figure above

Applications

For superhydrophobic coatings, a number of applications such as self-cleaning

and corrosion resistance surfaces, oil-water separation, anti-icing, anti-bacterial,
and so on have been explored. The development of individual applications
requires extensive research of relevant theories, material selection, fabrication
process, and testing procedure. Self-cleaning is considered the most direct
application of anti-wetting surfaces since when a water droplet rolls of a
superhydrophobic surface, it picks up and removes the dirt on the surface. These
self-cleaning coated surfaces have been applied in the industry as well as
associated with our daily lives to reduce cleaning costs