Liquid phase deposition of titanium oxide film on stainless steel substrate

• TiO2 films were deposited on stainless steel substrate by liquid phase deposition.
• The LPD-TiO2 film is superhydrophilic with contact angle less than 4°.
• The Vickers hardness value is 820 after LPD-TiO2 film deposition.
• The hydrophilic, anti-corrosion, and anti-abrasion properties can be improved after LPD-TiO2 film deposition.

In this study, liquid phase deposition (LPD) was used to prepare titanium oxide (TiO2) films on stainless steel substrates. The raw materials used were ammonium hexafluorotitanate and boric acid. Various concentrations of boric acid and annealing conditions were employed to examine the influences on hydrophilicity, anti-corrosion and anti-abrasion. The optimum conditions were a boric acid concentration of 0.7 M and oxygen annealing at 800 °C for 1 h. The water contact angle was reduced from 82.62° to 2.51°, indicating that the hydrophilic properties of the stainless steel were enhanced after TiO2 film deposition. Regarding corrosion, the corrosive current reduced from − 4.75 A/cm2 to − 6.52 A/cm2 by 3.65 wt.% of HCl. The Vickers hardness value (HV) of the stainless steel substrate increased from 254 to 820. Therefore, TiO2 thin films prepared using LPD can improve the hydrophilic, anti-corrosion, and anti-abrasion properties of stainless steel substrates.