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°. 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.