Improvement of corrosion resistance of H59 brass through fabricating superhydrophobic surface using laser ablation and heating treatment

[Display omitted] •A superhydrophobic brass surface was fabricated by laser ablation and heat treatment without using chemical modification.•Corrosion resistance of fabricated surface was studied by performing electrochemistry tests.•Hierarchical structure and adsorption of organic compounds from air are responsible for observed superhydrophobicity.•Superhydrophobic surface has over 13 times lower corrosion current density than polished brass surface.•Better corrosion resistance of superhydrophobic surface arises from air pockets trapped in roughness grooves. In this work, a superhydrophobic brass surface was fabricated by laser ablation followed by heating treatment, and corrosion resistance of this surface was studied by performing electrochemistry tests. The observed superhydrophobicity arises from the synergistic effect of the micro/nano hierarchical structure produced by the laser ablation and the adsorption of organic compounds from ambient air (mainly the nonpolar C−C/C−H groups) during the heating treatment. The superhydrophobic surface shows better corrosion resistance than polished brass surface because of the additional air film resistance and the decrease in the solid-electrolyte contact area caused by the air pockets trapped in the roughness grooves.