A facile method to fabricate a superhydrophobic surface with biomimetic structure on magnesium alloy

Superhydrophobic surface was obtained via a convenient two-step method in this paper on magnesium alloy. The microstructured oxide or hydroxide layers were constructed on the Mg alloy though hydrothermal process. The treated sample was modified with low-energy surface material. After modification, the contact angle of water droplet on the surface is higher than 150° which indicates superhydrophobicity. With scanning electron microscope(SEM), mammillaria-herrerae-like rough structure was obtained. The composition of the superhydrophobic film was analyzed by using x-ray Diffraction instrument and Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer. Moreover, the superhydrophobic surface has good stability. The potentiodynamic polarization test shows that the corrosion current density of superhydrophobic surface was 1–2 order of magnitudes smaller than the bare substrate, which means the anti-corrosion performance has been improved significantly. This route offers an environmentally-benign and effective way to fabricate superhydrophobic surface without using complicated equipment and dangerous chemicals.