Quick and Easy Electroless Deposition and Alkanethiol Treatment To Form a Superhydrophobic Surface

In this brief experiment, students create a super-hydrophobic surface as an application of polar-nonpolar interactions and redox chemistry. Half of a zinc-galvanized steel strip is coated in copper nanoparticles through electroless deposition. A layer of nonpolar octadecanethiol is added to half of that copper surface. Students classify the three resulting surfaces as polar or nonpolar using water drops as a probe. This simple procedure illustrates introductory chemical concepts while incorporating nanochemistry and illustrating surfaces of increasing technological importance.