Superhydrophobic Light Alloy Materials with Corrosion-Resistant Surfaces

Metals and their alloys are irreplaceable engineered materials showing great importance in our society. Light alloy materials (i.e., Mg, Al, Ti, and their alloys) have tremendous application potential in the aerospace, automotive industries, and biomedical fields for they are lighter and have excellent mechanical properties. The corrosion of light alloys is ubiquitous and greatly restricts their utilization. Inspired by the natural anti-water systems, many new designs and conceptions have recently emerged to create artificial superhydrophobic surfaces with great potential for corrosion resistant of light alloy. This review firstly introduces the concept of superhydrophobicity and strategies of producing superhydrophobic surfaces to inhibit the corrosion of light alloys. In addition, we elaborate the durability of superhydrophobic light alloy materials for commercial and industrial applications, and present their anticorrosion mechanism in the corrosive media.