Bioinspired metal-organic framework-based liquid-infused surface (MOF-LIS) with corrosion and biofouling prohibition properties

Abstract

Corrosion and biofouling are two main deterioration effects for shortening the service life of metal material in marine environment. In this study, targeting corrosion and biofouling of Cu, a bioinspired liquid-infused surface (LIS) coating based on metal organic frameworks (MOFs) is constructed onto Cu by sequential steps, including oxidation, coordination reaction, thiol modification and infusion process. The microstructure, chemical composition and wettability of the coating are uncovered through different characterization techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and so forth. Corrosion durability test results show that MOF-LIS performs high corrosion inhibition to underneath Cu. As a representative guiding parameter, Rct of MOF-LIS reaches 5.26 × 107 Ω cm2, which is much higher than that of bare Cu (694.6 Ω cm2), illustrating a corrosion inhibition efficiency up to 99.999% for Cu metal. Using diatoms as the probe organisms, after being immersed in seawater for 8 d, the attaching diatoms density on MOF-LIS (7.33 × 104 cells/cm2) is much less than bare Cu surface (3.95 × 108 cells/cm2), illustrating the high biofouling inhibition efficiency. Therefore, the versatile properties enable MOF-LIS as a coating having potential usage for anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling in the marine environment.