Novel Flower Pencil-Like ZnO/myristic acid composite: synthesis, characterization and study of their hydrophobic surfaces

Abstract

Nanoflower pencil-like ZnO (diameter 20-24nm) with hexagonal structure was synthesized by sol-gel method. By altering ZnO nanoflower with a myristic acid (MA) that has low surface energy, a composite coating material known as MA-ZnO was successfully fabricated. For the first time, MA was coated on the surface of ZnO nanoflower to create composite coating and it has been confirmed that the shorter-chain MA acid can offer a denser coating on the nanoflower surface compared to other coating with similar volume, which induced super-hydrophobic effect. Different wt% of MA was prepared and mixed with ZnO. The surface morphology, crystalline structure, FTIR, and PL properties of each MA-ZnO composite thin films were investigated. The highest water contact angle (WCA) shown by the composite coating is 164.5º, increment of 90% in comparison to pure ZnO, which proved its super-hydrophobicity.