A novel method to prepare superhydrophobic, UV resistance and anti-corrosion steel surface

Both TiO2 and SiO2 coated steel surfaces containing micro- and nanoscale binary structures with different surface roughness were successfully fabricated by means of a facile layer by layer deposition process followed by heat treatment. The resulting surfaces were modified by the low free energy chemical PIES (1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane). The experimental results of wettability exhibit that such modified surfaces have a strong repulsive force to water droplets, their static contact angles exceed 165, receding angle >160 degrees, advanced angles >170 degrees and slide angle <1 degrees. The resulting surfaces not only exhibit superhydrophobic properties but also show strong UV resistance (after coating SiO2 on top of TiO2) and strong stability to various solvents including 0.01% HCl solution. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.