Preparation of superhydrophobic zinc coating for corrosion protection

•Three-dimensional zinc deposits was obtained in choline chloride based ionic liquid.•Superhydrophobic surface was fabricated on zinc deposits by PP modification.•The superhydrophobic surface improved the anticorrosion properties of zinc deposits.•Anticorrosion was improved mainly due to obstruct the diffusion of Cl− on surface. A superhydrophobic composite layer was successfully fabricated via an electrochemical deposition process and subsequently modified with a polypropylene (PP) film. The surface morphologies and chemical compositions were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), respectively. The results showed that the PP modified zinc deposits had much higher water content angle (170°±2°) than the zinc deposits (120°±2°), presenting the wettability behavior from hydrophobic to superhydrophobic performance. The anticorrosion of the superhydrophobic surface was also examined. The findings revealed that the superhydrophobic surface significantly improved the anticorrosion performance of the zinc deposits.