Robust Self‐Cleaning and Marine Anticorrosion Super‐Hydrophobic Co–Ni/CeO₂ Composite Coatings

Abstract

Until now, superhydrophobic materials that are scale‐up fabrication and application to harsh environments remain challenging because of their fragile mechanical durability. Because of their unique electronic structure, rare‐earth oxides (REOs) have been proven to be intrinsically hydrophobic. Herein, cerium oxide particles (CeO 2 ) are added to the coating by coelectrodeposition. The Co–Ni/CeO 2 composite coating from the electrolyte containing 3.44 g L −1 possesses a flower‐like hierarchical structure, displaying a superhydrophobic behavior after the modification by 1H,1H,2H,2H‐perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane (PFTEOS). More importantly, excellent mechanical durability with critical abrasion distance of 22.5 m is achieved under a 5 kPa fixed normal pressure in the liner abrasion test before the loss of superhydrophobicity. Also, electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the superhydrophobic composite coatings display high corrosion resistance.