FABRICATION OF SUPERHYDROPHOBIC COATING ON WOOD BY MICRO/NANO STRUCTURE MATERIALS

Abstract

Recent years there have been many studies that have fabricated superhydrophobic surfaces for materials, including wood. This research has applied nanotechnology to fabricate superhydrophobic coatings of TiO₂ and ZnO on Acacia hybrid (Acacia mangium x auriculiformis) wood. Experimental results showed that TiO₂ coatings are composed of spherical-like particles with diameters ranging from 150 nm to 2 mm. The ZnO coating is composed of lamellar particles with thicknesses approximately 2 mm and with  widths ranging from 20 to 30 nm. The XRD patterns indicated the crystal of TiO₂ coating was anatase phase and the crystal of ZnO coating was hexagonal wurtzite phase. The water contact angle of the TiO₂ coating was about 152.6 degree and the water contact angle of the ZnO coating was about 151.8 degree. In addition, the water contact angle on the coatings tends to decrease after 180 seconds exposure, however the reduction is negligible. The superhydrophobicity of Acacia hybrid wood obtained in this research was mainly due to the hierarchical structure of micro/nano coatings of TiO₂ and ZnO.