Facile fabrication of a robust super-hydrophobic surface on magnesium alloy

A super-hydrophobic surface was successfully fabricated on magnesium alloy by electrodeposition of Zn-Co coating from choline chloride-based ionic liquid and subsequent surface modification. The water contact angle (CA) was measured to be as high as 152 degrees. Based on surface analysis by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), the super-hydrophobicity can be attributed to both the rough and porous micro- and nano-scale binary structural Zn-Co coating and surface enrichment of low surface energy stearic acid (SA). The corrosion behavior was investigated with potentiodynamic polarization measurements and it was found that the super-hydrophobic coating considerably improved the corrosion resistant performance of magnesium alloy in 0.1 mol/L NaCl solution. In addition, the stability of the super-hydrophobic property was investigated by immersion in aqueous solution, finger touching and abrasion with sandpaper. The results showed that the super-hydrophobic coating exhibited high stability in aqueous solution, the rough surface textures were retained and the coating still exhibited a large contact angle after mechanical destroy. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.