Corrosion Science 102 (2016) 251–258

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Corrosion Science
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci

Etching and heating treatment combined approach for

superhydrophobic surface on brass substrates and the consequent
corrosion resistance
Han Jie, Qunjie Xu ∗ , Liu Wei, YuLin Min
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Materials Protection and Advanced Materials in Electric Power, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Energy-Saving in
Heat Exchange Systems, Shanghai University of Electric Power, Shanghai 200090, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Designing micro-nano structure is one of promising method to fabricate hydrophobic surfaces. In this
Received 18 August 2015 paper, we demonstrated a combining etching and heat treatment approach to achieve a superhydropho-
Accepted 12 October 2015 bic surface on brass. Following by simple modification using stearic acid, the water contact angle on
Available online 23 October 2015
micro-nano structured brass was 153.6◦ , along which exhibited good and persistent corrosion resistance
in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solutions. This method could provide an effective route to fabricate superhy-
Keywords:
drophobic surface with corrosion resistance and self-cleaning properties for applications in the metal
Etching
alloys materials.
Brass
EIS © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
SEM
Corrosion fatigue

1. Introduction Brass is widely used in chemical and marine industry due to

Superhydrophobic, which is the surface with a contact angle
greater than 150◦ , has attracted great attention of researchers [1].
Due to its importance in fundamental research and industrial appli-
cation [2], these superhydrophobic surfaces can potentially be used
in corrosion inhibition [3–6], self-cleaning [7], anti-sticking of snow
or ice, oil–water separation, microfluidic devices [8] and many oth-
ers. Generally, the superhydrophobic surface can be obtained by
coating a low energy hydrophobic surface onto a rough structure
with special micro-nano structure [9]. It is well-known that the
wettability of surface is influenced by surface roughness. Thus the
special micro-nano structure would be the key to build superhy-
drophobic surface, as described by Wenzel [10] and Cassie and
Baxter [11]. In recent years, researchers have attempted to design
the micro-nano structures via various techniques [12,13], such
as template methods [13], chemical etching [14], oxidation [15],
electrodeposited sol–gel methods [16], and solution-immersion
approaches [17]. However, the fabrication methods above some-
what are costly and complicated, therefore, to find a simple, low
cost and appropriate method is still challenging towards the super-
hydrophobic surfaces.
∗ Corresponding author. Fax: +86 021 35304734.
E-mail address: xuqunjie@shiep.edu.cn (Q. Xu).
its good thermal and electrical conductivities. However, brass is
an active alloy, which does not resist corrosion well [18] and
seriously restricts its practical applications in industry. To over-
come this drawback, researchers have applied many methods to
protect brass [19]. Generally, the traditional corrosion inhibition
methods applied to the brass could not achieve good performance
in high corrosive seawater and furthermore cause environmental
pollutions [20]. As a new corrosion inhibition technology, superhy-
drophobic has been applied for corrosion inhibition of many metals.
Liu et al. [21] used chemical etching method to construct superhy-
drophobic surface, which greatly improved the corrosion resistance
of copper in the seawater. Zhao et al [22] also constructed super-
hydrophobic surface on magnesium alloy to improve its corrosion
resistance. Although the superhydrophobic surfaces can get good
corrosion protection in a short time [23], the stability and dura-
bility of corrosion resistance still remained a challenging task, as
documented in previous reports that some of superhydrophobic
surfaces are easily fragile even by the finger contact [24].
In this work, we report a facile and novel method for the fabrica-
tion of superhydrophobic surfaces on brass. By combining chemical
etching and thermal treatment method, the micro-nano structures
on brass surface could be constructed. After this combined methods
treatment, the brass surface was further modified with an ethanol
solution of stearic acid [25]. Interestingly, it was found that the time
of the stearic acid modification to form strong superhydrophobic

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2015.10.013
0010-938X/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
252 H. Jie et al. / Corrosion Science 102 (2016) 251–258

film with flower structure was 10 s. Moreover, this kind of super-

hydrophobic surface had stable and persistent corrosion resistance
in the seawater. In addition, the effect of etching, heating and mod-
ification time had been studied in the paper. On the basis of the
experiment results, the formation process and corrosion resistance
mechanism of superhydrophobic surface are also discussed.

2. Experiment

2.1. Materials

Brass alloy H85 plates (2 mm thick; composition: 84 wt% Cu,

15.5 wt% Zn, 1 wt% Ni) were purchased from Xiangwei Machinery
Co., Ltd., China. Ferric chloride, hydrochloric acid and stearic acid
were purchased from Shanghai Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd., China.
All reagents were of analytical grade and used as received without
further purification. Fig. 1. CA of brass surface with different etching time (15 min, 30 min, 45 min,
60 min and 75 min) in etching solution at room temperature then heat for 20 min
and modified with stearic acid for 10 s.
2.2. Specimen preparation

Brass samples (30 mm × 10 mm × 2 mm) and electrodes

(10 mm × 10 mm) were polished with different grades of emery
paper (1#, 3#, 6#), cleaned ultrasonically with alcohol and deion-
ized water respectively, and dried in air. The cleaned brass and
brass electrode were etched with 30 mL aqueous solution of FeCl3
(10 wt%) contained 100 ␮L HCl (35–37 wt%) at room temperature
for about 45 min, and then these samples and electrodes were
washed with alcohol and deionized water and dried again. Subse-
quently, these samples and electrodes were heated in air at 350 ◦ C
for 25 min. Finally, the brass surfaces were modified in an ethanol
solution of stearic acid at room temperature for a controlled period
of time. The obtained samples were washed with alcohol and
deionized water, and then dried for pending test.

2.3. Characterization

The surface morphologies and chemical composition of the sam- Fig. 2. CA of brass surface treated in the same method with different heat treatment
ples were investigated with a scanning electron microscopy (SEM, time (5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min and 25 min) at 350◦ C in the air.

SU-1500, Hitachi, Japan), and an X-ray diffraction (XRD, Cu K␣

radiation, Bruker, D8 Advance, and Germany). The contact angle Table 1
Contact angles of brass substrates with the different etched time.
(CA) was measured by K100-MK2 Almighty Tension Meter (KRUSS
Germany), and the shape of water drops placed on sample surface Etched time (min) 15 30 45 60 75
was tested with a JC2000C1CA system at ambient temperature. Contact angle (degree) 137.8 145.6 153.6 147.1 136.5
With an electrochemical workstation (CHI 660E, CH Instru-
ments Inc.) equipped with a standard three-electrode system with
Table 2
a Pt electrode as the counter electrode, a calomel electrode (SCE) Contact angles of brass substrates with the different heat time.
as the reference electrode and the sample as the working elec-
Heat time (min) 5 10 15 20 25
trode, the electrochemical properties were conducted in 3.5 wt%
Contact angle (degree) 141.8 143.5 150.1 153.6 144.5
NaCl aqueous solution at room temperature. The potentiodynamic
polarization curves were measured between −0.15 and 0.15 V
(vs OCP) with the scanning rate of 1 mV/s. The electrochemical 45 min, 60 min and 75 min in the etching solution before they were
impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were conducted in heated for 45 min and modified with 10% stearic acid for 10 s. The
the frequency range from 100 kHz to 0.05 Hz at open circuit poten- CAs of the surfaces with different etching time were 137.6◦ , 145.6◦ ,
tial with amplitude of perturbation voltage 5 mV. 153.6◦ , 141.7◦ and 136.5◦ , respectively. Obviously, the values of CAs
All samples without specification about immersion time are rose to a peak and then reduced, as the etching time increasing. And
characterized after only 1 day immersion time in 3.5 wt% NaCl for 45 min etching one, the CA was at the peak of 153.6◦ , which
aqueous solution. indicated that 45 min is the optimal etching time.
The heating effects were also investigated using 45 min etch-
3. Result and discussion ing sample with different heat time of 5 min, 10 min, 15 min,
20 min, 25 min, at 350 ◦ C. The corresponding CAs were 141.8◦ ,
3.1. Wettability characterization 143.5◦ , 150.1◦ , 153.6◦ , and 144.5◦ respectively. It could conclude
that 20 min was the most appropriate heating time to achieve the
The wettability of the prepared brass surfaces were character- best superhydrophobicity.
ized by measuring the static contact angle (CA). Fig. 1 shows the Taking into account both Figs. 1 and 2, as listed in Tables 1 and 2,
static CAs of the brass etched with different time of 15 min, 30 min, it could be seen that the procedure composed of 45 min etching
 H. Jie et al. / Corrosion Science 102 (2016) 251–258
Fig. 3. CA of brass surface etched for 45 min, heat for 20 min at 350 ◦ C in the air with
different modification time (10 s, 20 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, and 60 s) in the stearic acid.
Fig. 4. CA of brass surface only etched for 45 min then modified with stearic acid
with different time (10 s, 20 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, and 60 s).
and then 20 min heating was the best condition to construct the
superhydrophobic surface. In order to figure out the relationship
between modified time and superhydrophobic surfaces, the CA of
copper substrates treated with the same method at the same time
points were measured.
Fig. 3 compares the different CAs for brass surfaces etched for
45 min, heated for 20 min and modified with stearic acid for 10 s,
20 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, and 60 s. The fluctuations of CAs were very small,
suggesting the CAs were not strongly dependent on the treated time
of stearic acid.
However, if either etching or heating processes was ignored,
the surface properties would be greatly inhibited. As shown in
Figs. 4 and 5, without heating treatment, the CAs for the brass sur-
faces with stearic acid treatment for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 s
were 120.5◦ , 122.3◦ , 124.5◦ , 124.6◦ , 125.3◦ , and 124.5◦ respectively.
While without etching, they would be 111.6◦ , 113.5◦ , 112.6◦ , 112.3◦ ,
112.6◦ , and 112.1◦ respectively. The results indicated that both
etching and heating treatment played an important influence for
superhydrophobicity.
In summary, the superhydrophobicity could be realized by
45 min etching, 20 min heating, and 10 s steric acid treatment
(Fig. 6). In the meanwhile, it has little relationship between super-
hydrophobic surfaces and each treating times. Significantly, etching
and heating processes play two important roles to achieve the
superhydrophobic surface. The combined approach could lead to
a good superhydrophobic surface with large contact angle on brass
253
Fig. 5. CA of brass surface only heat for 20 min at 350 ◦ C then modified with stearic
acid with different time (10 s, 20 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, and 60 s).
Table 3
Contact angles of brass substrates with different treat methods at the same modified
time (10 s, 20 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, and 60 s).
Modified time (second) 10 20 30 40 50 60
CA (degree) of combined method 153.6 152.1 150.6 151.5 153.1 144.5
CA (degree) of etched method 122.5 122.3 124.6 124.8 125.3 124.5
CA (degree) of heat method 111.8 113.5 112.6 112.3 112.6 112.1
And superhydrophobic brass after immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solutionwith
different time of 5 days, 10 days, 15 days, and 20 days respectively.
(Table 3) because surface structures are strongly dependent on
the etching and heating factors, hence affecting superhydropho-
bic behaviors. The understanding should be based on the changes of
morphology and micro structure in brass surface during the etching
and heating processes.
3.2. Surface morphology and composition
The geometrical characteristics of the surfaces after etching,
heating and modification were investigated by SEM images. As a
controlled group, Fig. 7a shows the morphology on the surface of
brass samples without any treatment, and the morphology of sur-
face was very smooth with the CA of 77◦ . After being etched for
45 min, heated for 20 min and modified for 10 s, there were many
holes with several micrometers depth on the surface with CA nearly
0◦ . The whole surface had no regular texture (Fig. 7b). It indicated
Zn and Cu in brass (Cu–Zn alloy) surface were dissolved from brass
surface in the FeCl3 solution [26–28]. During this process, the dis-
solution of Zn must be a prior reaction since Zn in brass is known
as an active metal relative to Cu. This was named as “priority disso-
lution mechanism” [29]. Therefore, brass etching process by FeCl3
solution could be expressed by the combined Eqs. of (1) and (2)
[30,31].
2FeCl3 + Zn = 2FeCl2 + ZnCl2 (1)
2FeCl3 + Cu = 2FeCl2 + CuCl2 (2)
After being heated, much rougher structures at both micro and
nano-scale were achieved on the substrate. Vertically oriented
lamellae appeared to be the etched structure (Fig. 8a). Under higher
magnification(Fig. 8b), The details were quite clear under higher
magnification, where lamellae or sheets-similar structures have
nearly uniform size with clear nano-scale thickness in the verti-
cal direction and rough micro-scale in the other two directions.
The Cu and Zn oxides were believed to be main contributor to the
micro-nano lamellas or sheets, because the Cu and Zn ion diffusion
through the grain boundaries could promote the growth of both
Cu oxides and Zn oxides layers due to the presence of compressive
stress in the copper film. The results in this study also supported the
254 H. Jie et al. / Corrosion Science 102 (2016) 251–258

Fig. 6. Photograph of the water droplets (a) and (b) on the superhydrophobic surfaces.

Fig. 7. SEM images of bare brass (a) and etched brass (b).

Fig. 8. SEM images of brass (a) and (b) after thermal treatment.

compressive stress relaxation mechanism. As the oxygen atoms dif-
fused into the brass substrate, tensile stress and compressive stress
were generated in the outer convex surface and inner concave sur-
face, respectively. Hence, Cu and Zn oxides grew in the inner surface
due to the relaxation of compressive stress [32].
When the surfaces were treated in an ethanol solution of stearic
acid, radial structure with diameter of 15 ␮m could be indistinctly
observed on brass surface (Fig. 9a). In the enlarged picture (Fig. 9b),
radial structure grew in flower-like framework distributed over the
brass substrate with the CA of 153.6◦ . The flower-like structure has
nano-scale thickness and micro-scale width. It could be ascribed to
the formation of copper (zinc) carboxylate [21,33] via rapid reaction
with stearic acid on the surface of zinc and copper oxides composed
surface. Since the reaction belongs to the Metathesis reaction [34],
which could be performed sharply, thus, 10 s was enough to form
micro-nano flower-like structure. XRD analyses were carried out to
study the composition and crystal structure on the brass substrate.
Fig. 10 shows the XRD patterns of the bare, etched, etched-heat
treatment brass substrates. The sharp and intensive peak located at
2 = 43.47◦ is assigned to the (1 1 0) diffraction lattice plane of brass.
The weak ones located at 2 = 50.47◦ and 79.62◦ are attributed to
(4 2 2) and (2 1 1) facets of brass, respectively. The results confirm
that the brass substrates before and after being etched are both pure
brass without the presence of chloride. Interesting, the peak inten-
sities of (1 1 0) and (4 2 2) facets for the bare brass are stronger than
the etched brass, which means that the brass basal surface is grown
along the oriented (1 1 0) and (4 2 2). The (2 1 1) facet appeared after
etching strongly indicates that a part of (2 2 1) facet exposes gradu-
ally on the brass surface during the etching process, implying there
is a selective etching of (2 1 1) facet. In the XRD patterns of etched-
heat treatment brass shows the (1 1 0) and (1 0 1) facets of Cu2 O
and ZnO. It indicates that micro-nano lamellae or sheets structures
are the Cu2 O and ZnO crystals, which also demonstrate the SEM
changes of brass substrate. In the XRD analysis, it can be concluded
 H. Jie et al. / Corrosion Science 102 (2016) 251–258
Fig. 9. SEM images of brass with (a) and (b) superhydropobic surface.
Fig. 10. XRD patterns of bare brass surface, etched brass surface and etched-heat
treatment brass surface.
Fig. 11. Potentiodynamic polarization curves of bare brass, superhydrophobic brass,
etched and heat treatment brass in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution.
that the micro-nano structure on the brass substrate is composed of
Cu2 O and ZnO crystals, which is consist with SEM characterization.
3.3. Corrosion resistance
The corrosion inhibition of the superhydrophobic surface in
3.5 wt% NaCl solution was investigated from potentiodynamic
polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
(EIS). Fig. 1 shows potentiodynamic polarization curves of bare
brass, superhydrophobic brass, etched and heat treatment brass
before modified. The treated substrates were performed by
immersing in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution for 1 day. Fig. 12
shows potentiodynamic polarization curves of superhydrophobic
surface formed on the brass after immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl aque-
ous with the different time of 5 days, 10 days, 15 days, and 20
255
Fig. 12. Potentiodynamic polarization curves of bare brass,superhydrophobic brass.
days. Table 4 shows the polarization parameters (corrosion poten-
tial, Ecorr ; anodic Tafel slope, ␤a ; corrosion current density, icorr )
obtained from simulation of these polarization curves.
In a typical polarization curve, a lower corrosion current den-
sity (icorr ) or a higher corrosion potential (Ecorr ) corresponds to
a lower corrosion rate and a better corrosion resistance [35–37].
From Fig. 11, Ecorr positively increase from −0.278 V vs SCE for the
bare brass to −0.214 V vs SCE for the superhydrophobic one. The
positive shift of the Ecorr could be regarded to be an improvement
in protective properties of brass [38,39]. The Ecorr of etched and
heat treatment brass were also increased in a certain range. But
they were still lower than superhydrophobic one. The icorr of the
superhydrophobic brass substrate (5.40 × 10−9 A cm−2 ) decreases
by nearly 3 orders of magnitude as compared with the untreated
one (9.55 × 10−7 A cm−2 ), compared with the icorr of etched one
(4.18 × 10−6 A cm−2 ) and heat treatment one (6.76 × 10−7 A cm−2 ).
The icorr of superhydrophobic brass is much lower than either
etched or heat treatment one. And the icorr of etched one is even
higher than brass one. It is believed that the air trapped in micro and
nanoscale surface cavities behave as a dielectric for a pure paral-
lel plate capacitor [15,40]. The air dielectric can inhibit the electron
transfer between the electrolyte and the brass substrate and greatly
improve the corrosion resistance of the brass substrate [5,41].
In Fig. 12 the icorr of the superhydrophobic surface formed on
the brass after immersion in the 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution for
5, 10, 15, and 20 days were estimated to be 3.13 × 10−8 A cm−2 ,
4.68 × 10−8 A cm−2 , 5.37 × 10−8 A cm−2 , and 7.59 × 10−8 A cm−2 ,
respectively. The icorr of the superhydrophobic samples rise as
the immersion time increased. But all superhydrophobic sample
values were much lower than the untreated brass (the corrosion
current density values is 9.55 × 10−7 A cm−2 ). It indicated that the
superhydrophobic surface is effective for improving the corrosion
resistance of brass. As the immersion time increased, the super-
256 H. Jie et al. / Corrosion Science 102 (2016) 251–258

Fig. 13. EIS results of bare brass, superhydrophobic, etched and heat treatment surface formed on brass in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution. (a) Nyquistplots, (b) Bode Log|Z|
vs Log(f/Hz) plots, (c) Bode-phase angle vs Log(f/Hz) plots.

Table 4
Polarization parameters of brass substrates in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution.
−1
Samples Ecorr (mV vs SCE) ␤a (mV dec ) icorr (A cm−2 )

Bare −278 53.6 9.55 × 10−7

Etched −226 61.7 4.18 × 10−6
Heat −279 67.9 6.76 × 10−7
Superhydrophobic −214 76.2 5.40 × 10−9
Immersed 5 days −225 91.2 3.13 × 10−8
Immersed 10 days −221 77.1 4.68 × 10−8
Immersed 15 days −249 71.2 5.37 × 10−8
Immersed 20 days −256 78.5 7.59 × 10−8

hydrophobic sample values decreased slightly, which were caused

by permeation of Cl− through cracks in the film. However, after
immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution for 20 days, the cor-
rosion current density is still much lower than the untreated brass,
which could demonstrate that the superhydrophobic surface is very
stable and strong.
The corrosion resistance of superhydrophobic surface was also
examined by EIS studies. Because plots at low frequency are messy
and illogical for poor conductivity, EIS plots within a frequency
(10−1 Hz to 105 Hz). Fig. 13 presents EIS results of bare brass,
superhydrophobic, etched and heat treatment surface formed on
brass. The treated substrates have been immersed in NaCl aqueous
solution for one day. Fig. 13a shows the Nyquist plots of etched,
heat treatment and superhydrophobic samples are composed of
a capacitive loop in high frequency and Warburg impedance in
low frequency range. The presence of Warburg impedance reflect
anodic diffusion of CuCl−2 from brass electrode surface to bulk solu-
tion, and cathodic diffusion of dissolved oxygen from bulk solution
to brass electrode surface [3]. It is clear that diameter of capacitive
arc of brass covered with superhydrophobic layer is much higher
than that of bare brass. As shown in Fig. 13b and c, for the treated
Fig. 14. Nyquist plots of bare brass,superhydrophobic brassand superhydrophobic
brass after immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueoussolutionwith different time of 5 days,
10 days, 15 days, and 20 days respectively.
brass, there are two peaks at approximately 103 and 10 Hz exist
within testing frequency range in Bode-phase angle vs Log (f/Z)
plots. These peaks correspond to formation of corrosion layers at
higher frequency and corroding interface at lower frequency on the
treated substrates surfaces respectively.
Fig. 14 presents Nyquist plots of bare brass and superhydropho-
bic brass immersed in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solutions for 5, 10, 15,
and 20 days. The Nyquist plots are also composed of a capacitive
loop in high frequency and Warburg impedance in low frequency
range. The diameters of capacitive arc of the brasses with super-
hydrophobic surface are followed gradually smaller. For the bare
brass, the EIS result can be analyzed with the circuit shown in
Fig. 15a, where Rs is solution resistance, Rt is charge-transfer
resistance and CPEdl is constant phase elements modeling the
capacitance of the double. The EIS results of treated and immersed
 H. Jie et al. / Corrosion Science 102 (2016) 251–258 257

Fig. 15. Equivalent circults for (a) Bare brass, (b) Treated brass,superhydrophobicbrassand superhydrophobic brass after immersion in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution with
different time of 5 days, 10 days, 15 days, and 20 days respectively.

Table 5
Electrochemical parameters obtained from simulation of EIS results of brass substrates.

Samples Rs ( cm2 ) Cf (␮F cm−2 ) Rf (k  cm2 ) Cdl (␮F cm−2 ) Rt (k cm2 )  (%)

Bare 9.061 20.78 \ \ 6.817 \

Etched 8.892 38.15 12.19 58.48 7.73 11.8
Heat 9.591 5.86 17.48 1.51 50.4 86.4
Superhydrophobic 9.161 0.0158 37.91 0.153 533.9 98.7
Immersed 5 days 9.189 2.596 26.16 0.124 221.6 96.9
Immersed 10 days 9.201 42.98 23.45 0.097 180.41 96.2
Immersed 15 days 9.263 4.255 20.26 0.079 110.17 93.8
Immersed 20 days 9.875 0.032 18.32 0.0106 36.54 81.4

substrates can be analyzed with circuit in Fig. 15b, in which Rs
donates solution resistance, Rt donates charge-transfer resistance,
Rf donates resistance of corrosion layer, and CPEdl and CPEf are con-
stant phase elements modeling the capacitance of the double and
corrosion layers, respectively. The impedance of CPE is given by Eq.
(1):
1
ZCPE =
Y 0(Jω)n
where Y0 is the modulus, ω is angular frequency, and n is the phase
[6].
Table 4 presents electrochemical parameters. The listed inhibi-
tion efficiency () was calculated with the following formula [42]:
R0
(%) = (1 − t ) × 100
Rt
where Rt0 is the charge transfer resistance of bare brass, Rt is
the charge transfer resistance of treated and superhydrophobic
immersed brass substrates.
From the electrochemical parameters of brass in 3.5 wt% NaCl
solution (Table 5), it can be found that Rf of superhydrophobic
surface is 37.92 k  cm2 , and its inhibition efficiency is 98.7%. The
inhibition efficiency of etched substrate is 11.8% and heat treatment
one is 86.4%. It indicates the corrosion resistance of superhydropho-
bic one is better than etched and heat treatment ones. When the
superhydrophobic surface was immersed for 20 days, Rf decreased
to 5.319 k  cm2 , and its inhibition efficiency also decreased to
81.4%. It was the result of Cl− attacking the superhydrophobic sur-
face. However, Rt at this time is still higher than bare brass, and
the superhydrophobic surface can also inhibit corrosion process to
some extent.
4. Conclusions
Superhydrophobic film was fabricated on brass via chemical
etching and thermal oxidation surface combined methods. The
brass substrate etched for 45 min, then heated in air at 350 ◦ C for
25 min and modified with an ethanol solution of stearic acid, which
formed the micro-nano flower-like structure superhydrophobic
film with a contact angle of 153.6◦ . The superhydrophobic film
exhibited an improved performance of corrosion resistance when
immersed in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution, as demonstrated by
measurement result from potentiodynamic polarization curves
and EIS characterizations. In addition, even if the superhydropho-
bic film immersed in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous for 20 days, it still
showed good corrosion inhibitive properties, compared to the bare
brass. It was confirmed that superhydrophobic film improved the
(3) corrosion resistance of brass. In this paper, etching and heating
treatment combined approach is relatively facile, which provides a
new idea to fabricate functional superhydrophobic film with cor-
rosion inhibitive properties on metals.
Acknowledgments
(4)
This work was financially supported by National Science
Foundation of China, (No. 21553001), Innovation Program of
Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (No. 14ZZ152) and Sci-
ence and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No.
14DZ2261000).
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