Fabricated super-hydrophobic film with potentiostatic electrolysis method on copper for corrosion protection

A novel one-step potentiostatic electrolysis method was proposed to fabricate super-hydrophobic film on copper surface. The resulted film was characterized by contact angle tests, Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and electrochemical measurements. It could be inferred that the super-hydrophobic property resulted from the flower-like structure of copper tetradecanoate film. In the presence of super-hydrophobic film, the anodic and cathodic polarization current densities are reduced for more than five and four orders of magnitude, respectively. The air trapped in the film is the essential contributor of the anticorrosion property of film for its insulation, the copper tetradecanoate film itself acts as a "frame" to trap air as well as a coating with inhibition effect. The super-hydrophobic film presents excellent inhibition effect to the copper corrosion and stability in water containing Cl. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.