Fabrication of Ni-SiC superhydrophilic surface by magnetic field-assisted scanning electrodeposition

A magnetic field-assisted scanning electrodeposition was used to prepare stable superhydrophilic Ni-SiC coating on copper sheets in this paper. The Ni-SiC mixed powder was added to a plating solution, and the magnetic field was parallel to the direction of the electric field. The freshly prepared coating exhibited strong hydrophilicity, completely wetting the coating within 2 s. After standing for 12 weeks in the air, the coating remained superhydrophilic. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed rough hierarchical structure and micro-gaps present on the surface. The formation of the hierarchical structure is the result of the coaction of a magnetic field and an electric field. Additionally, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) detected high surface energy SiC on the surface of the samples. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results showed that the coating could maintain superhydrophilicity due to no excessive oxygen adsorption and SiC adsorption. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.