The application of magnesium alloys
is seriously limited by their
poor environmental adaptability. In this work, we report a robust
superamphiphobic coating, which endows magnesium alloys with extraordinary
environmental adaptability. The coating was fabricated on magnesium
alloys by a facile, cost-effective, and scalable method, one-step
particle-free spraying. The as-treated magnesium alloys show excellent
superamphiphobicity with the static contact angles (CAs) of water,
ethylene glycol, benzyl alcohol, and cyclohexanol droplets of 157.5°,
155.1°, 151.7°, and 151.3°, respectively. These samples
also display small dynamic CAs (0° for water and 10° for
ethylene glycol) and water super-repellency, which endow magnesium
surfaces with droplet impact resistance, self-cleaning, and oil-resistance
functions. The simulating environmental-adaptability tests demonstrate
that the as-treated magnesium alloys can remain superamphiphobic under
various mechanical, chemical, and physical damages including sand
impact (⩾10 cycles), water impact (v = 4.5
m·s–1, 2 impacts·s–1, 20 h), abrasion (1.0 kPa, 50 cycles), strong acid/alkaline solution
(pH = 1–14), organic solvents immersion (ethylene glycol, n-hexane, ≥48 h), high temperature (200 °C,
72 h), and ultraviolet irradiation (λ = 254 nm, 672 h). The
natural environmental-adaptability tests in the acidic industrial
atmosphere for 40 days further confirm the robustness of the as-treated
magnesium alloys under harsh environments. This work not only provides
a promising method for industrially fabricating environmental-adaptable
coatings on metallic materials but also paves the way for the much
wider applications of magnesium alloys.