Corrosion resistance of TiO2 films grown on stainless steel by atomic layer deposition

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) films have been deposited onto stainless steel substrates using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Composition analysis shows that the films shield the substrates entirely. The TiO2 films are amorphous in structure as characterized by X-ray diffraction. The electrochemical measurements show that the equilibrium corrosion potential positively shifts from − 0.96 eV for bare stainless steel to − 0.63 eV for TiO2 coated stainless steel, and the corrosion current density decreases from 7.0 × 10− 7 A/cm2 to 6.3 × 10− 8 A/cm2. The corrosion resistance obtained by fitting the impedance spectra also reveals that the TiO2 films provide good protection for stainless steel against corrosion in sodium chloride solution. The above results indicate that TiO2 films deposited by ALD are effective in protecting stainless steel from corrosion.