Slippery liquid-infused porous surface for corrosion protection with self-healing property

Corrosion of metals plays a critical role in many fields. Large numbers of methods have been developed to improve the corrosion resistance. In recent decades, slippery liquid-infused porous surface (SLIPS) inspired by Nepenthes has attracted amount of attentions for corrosion protection due to its superior water repellency. Nevertheless, these SLIPS were mainly based on layered double hydroxides (LDHs), aluminum anode oxide (AAO) films and some porous fibers, the kind of metal materials can be used to form LDHs and AAO are very limited. In this report, a facile electroplating method combining with chemical replacement was developed to fabricate the SLIPS based on superhydrophobic coating (SC) for corrosion protection which is suitable for any metal substrates. The crystal structure of the as-prepared SC was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology was observed by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and showed a porous structure. By filling the lubricant into the porous structure, the water contact angle decreased from 162.2 +/- 3 degrees to 117.5 +/- 1 degrees. Besides, the SLIPS revealed a long-term stability. Importantly, the corrosion resistance of SLIPS was enhanced by one and four orders of magnitude compared to SC and bare Fe. In addition, it was worth mentioning that the SLIPS also exhibited a superior self-healing property even damaged with a severe scratch. This facile method should be of great importance for guiding the fabrication of SLIPS and broaden the potential applications of metals in engineering.