Tunable surface adsorption and wettability of candle soot coated on ferroelectric ceramics

A ferroelectric Ba(0.85)Ca(0.15)Ti(0.9)Zr(0.1)O(3) (BCZTO) ceramic was prepared using a solid-state reaction route. A coating of candle soot was provided on poled and unpoled BCZTO samples. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of the graphite form of carbon in the candle soot. Scanning Kelvin probe microscopy determined that the highest surface potentials were ∼34 mV and 1.5 V in the unpoled and poled BCZTO samples, respectively. The candle soot was found to adsorb ∼65%, 80%, and 90% of the methylene blue dye present in acidic, neutral, and basic media, respectively, within 3 h. In both the poled and unpoled cases, the BCZTO samples coated with candle soot showed greater adsorption capacities than the uncoated BCZTO sample. In the cases of poled samples coated with candle soot, the adsorption was found to be greater in the case of candle soot coated on a positively charged surface than that for candle soot coated on a negatively charged BCZTO surface in an acidic medium. In a basic medium, the adsorption was found to be greater in the case of candle soot coated on a negatively charged surface than that for candle soot coated on a positively charged BCZTO surface. The contact angle of the candle soot-coated BCZTO sample was found to be hydrophobic (∼149°). The contact angle decreased (∼149–133°) with an increase in temperature (30–70 °C) in the case of candle soot coated on the positive surface of a poled BCZTO sample. The contact angle increased (∼139–149°) with an increase in temperature (30–70 °C) in the case of candle soot coated on the negative surface of a poled BCZTO sample. Internal electric field-assisted (associated with ferroelectric materials) adsorption could be a potential technique to improve adsorption processes.