Effect of stearic acid concentration on the superhydrophobic properties of sponge coated by Fe₂O₃-MgO nanocomposite

Abstract

The nanocomposite (Fe2o3-MgO) was prepared using the hydrothermal method. A super hydrophobicity surface was successfully fabricated using a nanocomposite with stearic acid at different molar ratios using the dip coting method on the sponge. The prepared samples were characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, AFM, Raman and contact angle techniques. The XRD pattern of Fe2O3-MgO nanocomposite exhibits that the XRD pattern aligns well with both reference codes for iron oxide and magnesium oxide. This consistency validates the presence of both iron and magnesium oxide phases in the nanocomposite. FESEM images of the coated sponges apparent that all the coated sponges share a strikingly similar morphology. They exhibit a layered structure, with plates that are arranged in parallel to each other. According to AFM results, the (Fe2O3-MgO) nanocomposite exhibited the highest surface roughness among the three samples, with an Ra of 69.41 nm and an Rq of 83.30 nm. The contact angles of samples with x = 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 are equal to 140.1°, 142.3°, 147.6°, and 152.9°, respectively. Therefore, there is a direct relationship between the molar ratio of stearic acid to nanocomposite and the contact angle. As the molar ratio increases, the contact angle also rises, due to the increase in surface roughness.