Abstract
Superhydrophobic hydroxide zinc carbonate (HZC) films were fabricated on aluminum substrate through a convenient in situ deposition process. Firstly, HZC films with different morphologies were deposited on aluminum substrates through immersing the aluminum substrates perpendicularly into aqueous solution containing zinc nitrate hexahydrate and urea. Secondly, the films were then modified with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS: CH3(CF2)6(CH2)3Si(OCH3)3) molecules by immersing in absolute ethanol solution containing FAS. The morphologies, hydrophobicity, chemical compositions, and bonding states of the films were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), water contact angle measurement (CA), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. It was shown by surface morphological observation that HZC films displayed different microstructures such as microporous structure, rose petal‐like structure, block‐shaped structure, and pinecone‐like structure by altering the deposition condition. A highest water contact angle of 156.2° was obtained after FAS modification. Moreover, the corrosion resistance of the superhydrophobic surface on aluminum substrate was investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The EIS measurements’ results revealed that the superhydrophobic surface considerably improved the corrosion resistance of aluminum.
Highlights
Aluminum and aluminum alloys have been widely used in household and industrial fields such as marine, autoaviation, and aerospace industries, owing to their significant advantages, including high-specific strength, excellent heat and electric conductivities, and low-specific weight [1, 2]
The chemical bonding mode of the films fabricated on aluminum substrate was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) spectroscopy (Shimadzu IRAffinity-1), and the films were scratched from aluminum substrate and pressed into tablets with KBr
The analysis of FTIR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reflects that the hydroxide zinc carbonate (HZC) film was covered with fluorine containing long-chain alkyl chemical species, inducing the low surface energy surface, which combined with rough microstructure of HZC film, to obtain excellent superhydrophobicity of the sample
Summary
Aluminum and aluminum alloys have been widely used in household and industrial fields such as marine, autoaviation, and aerospace industries, owing to their significant advantages, including high-specific strength, excellent heat and electric conductivities, and low-specific weight [1, 2]. Investigation on the representative example of the natural superhydrophobic surface, lotus leaf, revealed that the superhydrophobicity stemmed from the cooperation of wax-like component on leaf surface and surface roughness at micro- and nanoscales [7] In this way, people developed two strategies to fabricate artificial superhydrophobic surfaces: roughen the surface of hydrophobic materials or chemically modify a rough surface with low surface energy material [8,9,10]. Taking advantage of the characteristics of water repellency and low adhesion, superhydrophobic treatments have been applied on various engineering material surfaces such as steel, copper, zinc, titanium, and magnesium to improve their anticorrosion performances by providing an effective barrier to keep water, moisture, and corrosive medium away from contacting and reacting with the metal [18,19,20,21,22,23,24]. The corrosion resistance property of the superhydrophobic sample was investigated
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