A facile approach to fabricate superhydrophobic and corrosion resistant surface

In the present study, we have fabricated superhydrophobic CuO nanostructured surfaces by a simple solution-immersion process and a subsequent chemical modification with various thiol groups. The morphology of the CuO nanostructures on the copper foil could be easily controlled by simply changing the reaction time. The influences of reaction time and the thiol groups on hydrophobic properties have been discussed in detail. It is shown that the chemically modified CuO nanostructured surfaces present remarkable superhydrophobic performance and non-sticking behaviour. Furthermore, a lower corrosion current density (i_corr) and a higher corrosion potential (E_corr) of the prepared superhydrophobic surface was observed in comparison with the bare Cu foil by immersing in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution, indicating a good corrosion resistance capability. Our work provides a general, facile and low-cost route towards the preparation of superhydrophobic surface, which has potential applications in the fields of self-cleaning, anti-corrosion, and oil–water separation. (paper)