Superhydrophobic LDH/TTOS composite surface based on microstructure for the anti-corrosion, anti-fouling and oil-water separation application

Abstract A two-step method was used to fabricate a superhydrophobic surface on steel sheet, nickel foam (NF), and stainless steel mesh (SS). The micro-nano structure of Layer Double Hydroxide (LDH) is obtained by hydrothermal method. The synergistic effect of triethoxy(octyl)silane (TTOS) and FeNi-LDH produces a superhydrophobic surface. Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used for structural characterization, which confirmed the synthesis and hydrophobic modification of FeNi-LDH. The time of the hydrothermal reaction was discussed, and the results showed that the water contact angle (WCA) of the superhydrophobic surface fabricated by setting the reaction time to 12 hours can reach 169±2°. Electrochemical tests also show that the prepared superhydrophobic surface can achieve a corrosion inhibition rate of 96.3%. In addition, the superhydrophobic NF and superhydrophobic SS prepared by the same method were tested for antifouling and oil-water separation performance. The results show that, due to the excellent non-wettability of the surface, the preparation method of this superhydrophobic surface has great potential value in the fields of anti-corrosion, anti-fouling and oil-water separation.