Inspired by the adhesive proteins in mussels, a novel electrodeposition route has been developed to create multifunctional zinc (Zn)/ polydopamine (pDop)/ n-dodecyl mercaptan (NDM) composite coatings on different substrates, where oxidative polymerization of dopamine was simultaneously integrated during electrodeposition process. Hierarchical cauliflower-like structure was obtained on the electrodeposited Zn/pDop coatings. After modification with NDM, the prepared Zn/pDop/NDM coatings on different substrates (steel, Al and Cu) possessed excellent superhydrophobicity, exhibiting a maximum water contact angle (WCA) of 167.6° and a sliding angle (SA) less than 1° on the steel substrate.
One-step fabrication methods toward superhydrophobic (SH) coatings are recognized as very costefficient. However, most of the emerged one-step methods rely on the organic solvents to dissolve low surface energy material, which might bring serious environmental issues. In this work, a water-based one-step electrodeposition route was provided to obtain high-performance SH coating on various materials and output functional products such as the mesh used for oil− water separation, a self-cleaning "blackboard", or stain-resistant cloth; all can be prepared within 5 min. An unconventional lauric acid emulsion containing metal ions served as the electrolyte, and with the appearance of an ultrasonic field, the organic part was effectively co-deposited. The coated SH surface enjoyed excellent mechanical stability and corrosion-resistance property. Profitably, the electrolyte can be repeatedly utilized for several cycles. Besides, our experiment proved that this technique was really scalable, rendering it with great potential for quantity production.
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