Fabricating stable and self-healing superhydrophobic photothermal-responsive coating without modification towards effective anti-corrosion and anti-icing

The fabrication of superhydrophobicity on metallic substrates for corrosion and icing prevention requires surface modification and designing micro/nanostructures. However, surface modification using low-energy materials is potentially harmful to environments and human health, expensive, and degraded at high temperatures and solvents. Hence, a stable and self-healing superhydrophobic photothermal-responsive coating without modification was fabricated by reproducible and rapid electrodeposition to protect material in various environments. The water contact angle (WCA) of CeO 2 smooth surface calculated by density functional theory exceeded the intrinsic wetting threshold, suggesting the potential for superhydrophobicity without surface modification. The as-prepared coating with a WCA of 163.4° exhibited excellent self-healing, self-cleaning, and antifouling properties. Moreover, the coating maintained superhydrophobicity under atmospheric environment (20 weeks), low/high temperatures (−20 ∼ 200 °C), and acid/base solutions (pH = 1 ∼ 14). Its impedance modulus at the lowest frequency is increased by more than 32 times that of the substrate due to the barrier effect of the air film and the coating. Meanwhile, the time of ice nucleation and ice melting on the coating were delayed by 43.45 s and accelerated by 79 s, respectively, attributed to its excellent superhydrophobicity and photothermal conversion capability. The superhydrophobic coating with excellent properties has a promising application in material protection fields.