Superhydrophobic nickel coating fabricated by scanning electrodeposition

A scanning electrodeposition technology was proposed to fabricate superhydrophobic nickel coating. The microstructure, the surface chemical composition, and the wettability of the coating were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle-measuring device. The SEM images showed that there were cauliflower-like clusters on the coating surface, which were attributed to the “tip effect”. The newly prepared coating was not superhydrophobic, but after exposed to air for one week, the contact angle of a 6 μL water droplet on the surface reached 155.4° and the sliding angle was only 6.5°. The XPS analyses indicated that this phenomenon was due to the adsorption of organic compounds from the air. This method has potential for practical applications, as it is flexible and controllable, simple and fast, and the prepared coating showed an excellent superhydrophobic property.