Anti-corrosion, anti-bacterial and durable atmospheric weatherability of polydimethylsiloxane coating with intrinsic hydrophobicity

Abstract Understanding the corrosion resistance, microorganism suppression and real-world weatherability and application potentiality of intrinsically hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coating is of great significance for developing multi-functional composite protective materials. In this paper, a pure PDMS coating was prepared through spray-coating technique on Q235 carbon steel. The surface morphologies, wettability, chemical compositions, corrosion resistance, bacteria adhesion and real-world atmospheric durability behaviors were investigated. The electrochemical assessment results show that the PDMS-coated Q235 carbon steel exhibits greatly enhanced charge transfer resistance ( R ct ), positive movement of corrosion potential ( E corr ), and extremely low corrosion current density ( I corr ). Besides, the PDMS coating presents high anti-bacterial efficiency against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas sp. adhesion. The real-world atmospheric weatherability, salt spray and abrasion resistance reveal that the PDMS coating can be considered as a superior and durable barrier against marine corrosion and biofouling invasion.