Superhydrophobic silane-based surface coatings on metal surface with nanoparticles hybridization to enhance anticorrosion efficiency, wearing resistance and antimicrobial ability

Abstract A multifunctional silane-based composite surface coating with self-cleaning, anticorrosive and antimicrobial abilities have been fabricated on metal surface. The surface coating is designed to have a “sandwich” structure that contains a chemically etched surface at the bottom, a SiO2-hybridized silane layer in the middle and a Ti3C2-hybridized silane layer on the top. The chemical etching produces a rough surface that helps to produce superhydrophobicity. The silane molecules are crosslinked to form a film of low surface energy, which not only contributes to surface superhydrophobicity but also plays dominant roles in corrosion resistance. The SiO2 nanoparticles and Mxene (Ti3C2) nanosheets are hybridized in the film to enhance compactness, mechanical strength and wearing resistance of the film, resulting in a surface coating with excellent anticorrosion efficiency. Mxene can also introduce antimicrobial ability to the surface coating. The study develops an effective strategy to construct multifunctional composite surface coatings, which is not only suitable for modification of clinical and biomedical devices for anticorrosive and antibacterial purposes, but also can be used to modify the surface of daily-use facilities to facilitate their daily maintenance and cleaning.