One-step method for the fabrication of superhydrophobic surface on magnesium alloy and its corrosion protection, antifouling performance

•The myristic acid iron superhydrophobic surface was formatted on AZ31.•Two procedures to build a super-hydrophobic were simplified to one step.•The superhydrophobic surface shows good anticorrosion, antifouling properties.•We report a new approach for the superhydrophobic surface protection on AZ31.

Inspired by the lotus leaf, various methods to fabricate artificial superhydrophobic surfaces have been developed. Our purpose is to create a simple, one-step and environment-friendly method to construct a superhydrophobic surface on a magnesium alloy substrate. The substrate was immersed in a solution containing ferric chloride (FeCl3·6H2O), deionized water, tetradecanoic acid (CH3(CH2)12COOH) and ethanol. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) were employed to characterize the substrate surface. The obtained surface showed a micron rough structure, a high contact angle (CA) of 165° ± 2° and desirable corrosion protection and antifouling properties.