LAUSR

Abstract Finding efficient ways to prohibit abiotic and microbiologically influenced corrosion is a critical task for metal serving in harsh seawater environment. In this paper, originated from the biomimetics principle, a lotus leaf inspired superhydrophobic matrix composed by Fe-myristic acid compound is prepared on copper surface. The preparation is realized by a facile electrodeposition approach based on a coordination-deposition mechanism, which leads to porous structure composed of hydrophobic compound from an ethanol bath via a single step. The dependent relationship between wettability and electrodeposition conditions including electrodeposition potential and time is revealed. Sophisticated techniques including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy are employed to characterize the matrix morphology and composition. Scanning Kelvin probe and other electrochemical methods show that superhydrophobic matrix improves the corrosion resistance capability of copper in different environments including atmosphere, natural seawater and salt spray, illustrating that superhydrophobic matrix endows high abiotic corrosion inhibition to the underneath Cu metal. The inhibition efficiency of Cu by superhydrophobic coating can reach 99.85 % after immersion in seawater for 28 days. For achieving high prohibition effect to the corrosion induced by microbes, the bio-adhesion inhibition is one prerequisite. The as-obtained superhydrophobic matrix is confirmed to prohibit the representative diatoms and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) to grow onto metal surface due to the limited anchoring sites and the low surface energy. Superhydrophobic matrix exhibits excellent corrosion resistance in harsh SRB suspension, demonstrating a prominent role to combat microbiologically influenced corrosion in seawater environment.