Controllable Dianthus caryophyllus-like superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic hierarchical structure based on self-congregated nanowires for corrosion inhibition and biofouling mitigation

By Zhang, Binbin; Hu, Xiuhua; Zhu, Qingjun; Wang, Xiutong; Zhao, Xia; Sun, Congtao; Li, Yantao; Hou, Baorong
Published in Chemical Engineering Journal NULL 2017

Abstract

Abstract Here we present our findings of superhydrophilic (SHPL)/superhydrophobic (SHPB) Dianthus caryophyllus-like hierarchical structure for corrosion inhibition and biofouling mitigation through a relatively high-speed hard anodisation (HA) technique. The surface morphologies, chemical compositions were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR). The static and dynamic behaviors of water droplets and water stream demonstrate the extremely low contact angle of {SHPL} surface and the low adhesive force of {SHPB} surface. Electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution and settlement experiments in Chlorella vulgaris-inoculated culture medium revealed that the {SHPL} surface cannot efficiently protect the underlying substrates from corrosion and Chlorella vulgaris cell adhesion, whereas the {SHPB} surface exhibited noticeable corrosion inhibition and biofouling mitigation. In addition, the synthetic {SHPB} surface presents good self-cleaning ability to contamination and thermal stability to hot water droplets. We believe that our findings of the anodized SHPL/SHPB Dianthus caryophyllus-on-nanowires structure are helpful in understanding the difference between superhydrophilicity and superhydrophobicity, which is beneficial for designing new bio-inspired interfacial materials with super-wettability for potential marine applications.

Read » Back