Study on fabrication of the superhydrophobic sol-gel films based on copper wafer and its anti-corrosive properties

► In this paper, a stable superhydrophobic film was prepared on copper wafer substrate by a simple sol-gel method via hydrolysis of vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTES). ► The surface morphological study showed that different structures, such as pyramid-shaped protrusions or nipple-shaped protrusions or ball-shaped silica particles distributed on the copper substrate. ► The films showed a good superhydrophobic property, which had a high CA of larger than 155.4°. ► The superhydrophobic film held a good anti-corrosive property, the CA was 151.6° for the copper wafer even with immersion periods up to 14 days in the 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution, pointing to promising future applications.