Fabrication of superhydrophobic magnesium alloy through the oxidation of hydrogen peroxide

In this study, a superhydrophobic film was successfully fabricated on the surface of magnesium alloy AZ31 by a rapidly hydrothermal process in the presence of hydrogen peroxide without using any template and surfactant, and then covered with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) molecules. The superhydrophobic surface was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The results showed the surface was composed of a large amount of spheres, the random stack of these spheres induces the unique rough structure, and the superhydrophobic surface exhibited good water repellency with a static water contact angle of 164 degrees. The corrosion resistance of the superhydrophobic magnesium alloy was assayed by electrochemical potentiodynamic measurements, and the results revealed that superhydrophobic film considerably improved the corrosion resistance performance of magnesium alloy. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.