Preparation, deposited behavior and hydrophobic property of modified graphene oxide reinforced Ni composite coatings by magnetic field assisted electro-brush plating

Abstract Graphene oxide (GO) as nano reinforcement has been extensively used to improve the overall performance of metal-based composite coatings. In this work, GO nanosheets with surface modification and magnetic field (MF) assisted electro-brush plating (EBP) technique were employed to construct Ni-based nanocomposite coatings with biomimetic structure to improve the corrosion resistance of coatings. The preparation, deposited behavior and some properties of coatings were investigated. The results showed that after surface modification, GO surface carried numerous Co7Fe3 magnetic nanoparticles with the size of 40–50 nm. During the MF assisted EBP process, the co-deposition of CoFe@GO magnetic powders and the reduced Ni atoms contributed to the formation of Ni-CoFe@GO composite coatings with stripe-like structure that resembled the surface morphology of conch. Besides, induced by the synergistic action of MF and electric field, most magnetic powders were distributed regularly in the stripe-like areas. After two weeks exposure to air, Ni-CoFe@GO composite coatings changed spontaneously from hydrophilic of fresh coatings to hydrophobic. This transformation was mainly attributed to the high surface roughness and the adsorption of a lot of hydrocarbons on the stripe-like surface. Moreover, air pockets that resulted from these hydrocarbons formed on the coating surface impeded the diffusion of corrosive media into coatings. Consequently, Ni-CoFe@GO composite coatings exhibited good corrosion resistance. Therefore, the preparation proposed in this work is desirable and has a prospect in further improving the corrosion resistance of GO reinforced Ni-based composite coatings.