Facile Electrodeposition and Corrosion Properties of Zirconium-based Superhydrophobic Thin Films on Aluminum
R. Farid, D.K. Sarkar and D. De
The development of corrosion resistant superhydrophobic thin films on aluminum surfaces has attracted great interest for industrial applications. In the present work, zirconium-based superhydrophobic thin films were fabricated on AA6061 aluminum alloy substrates by a simple electrodeposition process. The thin film coated Al substrate exhibited excellent superhydrophobicity with a higher water contact angle of 162 ± 3˚ compared to the hydrophilic as-received Al substrate with a contact angle of 83 ± 2˚. The surface morphology of the fabricated thin films on Al substrate shows uniform micro-nano porous structures. The polarization resistance of the as-received Al and the zirconium-based superhydrophobic thin films on the Al substrate are 23 kΩ.cm2 and 788 kΩ.cm2, respectively. These results show excellent anti-corrosion property of zirconium-based superhydrophobic thin films to provide high corrosion protection for Al substrates.
Keywords: Aluminum, electrodeposition, superhydrophobic surface, potentiodynamic polarization, corrosion resistance