Fabrication of Ag nanoparticles on a Cu-substrate with excellent superhydrophobicity, anti-corrosion, and photocatalytic activity

The superhydrophobic surface of silver metal on Cu-substrate (Cu@Ag-SHS) is successfully fabricated via a chemical etching process having fern leaves-like morphology of the nanoparticles of silver metal. The fabricated product is characterized by PXRD, EDX, SEM, and XPS techniques. Moreover, electrochemical impedance and water contact angle (WCA, using Gonimeter) measurements are carried out. Cu@Ag-SHS contained unique properties such as long-term stability, super buoyancy force (as a drop of water could bounce from the balloon surface, thus presenting superb non-sticking properties), anti-corrosion properties, self-cleaning, anti-abrasion, and durability. Furthermore, photocatalysis properties of Cu@Ag-SHS were tested by the photodegradation of 4-NP into 4-AP. On the other hand, the temple and the low-cost thermal annealing process are persuaded to make coating surfaces homogenous and remove impurities. Moreover, the annealing process executed the sliding angle nearly equal to 2° and the static water contact angle 159 ± 1°. Furthermore, Cu@Ag-SHS revealed fern leaves-likee morphology that is a unique property. Therefore, with the adoption of several characterizing techniques, this has been demonstrated that the developed surfaces of superhydrophobic products and their properties assure that they will be applicable in the fabric and metallic industries.