Preparation of superhydrophobic zinc coating for corrosion protection

A superhydrophobic composite layer was successfully fabricated via an electrochemical deposition process and subsequently modified with a polypropylene (PP) film. The surface morphologies and chemical compositions were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), respectively. The results showed that the PP modified zinc deposits had much higher water content angle (170 degrees +/- 2 degrees) than the zinc deposits (120 degrees +/- 2 degrees), presenting the wettability behavior from hydrophobic to superhydrophobic performance. The anticorrosion of the superhydrophobic surface was also examined. The findings revealed that the superhydrophobic surface significantly improved the anticorrosion performance of the zinc deposits. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.