Robust Self-Cleaning and Marine Anticorrosion Super-Hydrophobic Co–Ni/CeO2 Composite Coatings

Abstract

Until now, superhydrophobic materials that are scale-up fabrication and application to harsh environments remain challenging because of their fragile mechanical durability. Because of their unique electronic structure, rare-earth oxides (REOs) have been proven to be intrinsically hydrophobic. Herein, cerium oxide particles (CeO2) are added to the coating by coelectrodeposition. The Co–Ni/CeO2 composite coating from the electrolyte containing 3.44 g L−1 possesses a flower-like hierarchical structure, displaying a superhydrophobic behavior after the modification by 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane (PFTEOS). More importantly, excellent mechanical durability with critical abrasion distance of 22.5 m is achieved under a 5 kPa fixed normal pressure in the liner abrasion test before the loss of superhydrophobicity. Also, electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the superhydrophobic composite coatings display high corrosion resistance.