Construction and anti-corrosion behavior study of silanol-modified Ni-WS2 superhydrophobic composite coating

In this study, a novel superhydrophobic composite coating is prepared by a two-step method. Firstly, the Ni-based deposition coating is fabricated via composite electrodeposition with WS2 granules worked as dispersed phase particles, and the roughness of deposit coating can be adjusted by changing the added amount of sulfide in the bath. The prepared Ni-WS2 deposit exhibits sufficiently high roughness and suitable micro-nano morphology. Then, hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) is used to modify the deposition coating with low surface energy to obtain silanol-modified Ni-WS2 coating with superhydrophobic properties. The superhydrophobic behavior of the composite coating conforms to the Cassie-Baxter model, with low adhesion to aqueous solutions. When the addition amount of WS2 particles in the plating solution during the electrodeposition process is 5 g·L−1, the prepared composite coating has the excellent superhydrophobic properties. The water contact angle of the composite coating is 154.7° ± 2 and the sliding angle can reach 6°. And the superhydrophobic composite coating exhibits excellent corrosion resistance. •A two-step method to fabricate silanol-modified Ni-WS2 superhydrophobic coatings.•The role of WS2 and silanol in the superhydrophobic coatings are analyzed.•The effects of WS2 on the structure and topography of Ni deposits are analyzed.