Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces with long-term durable antifouling and anti-corrosion performance via bimodal structure design

Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) possess great potential in antifouling and anti-corrosion applications owing to their remarkable liquid repellency. However, ensuring their long-term durability remains a challenge. Herein, long-term durable SLIPS coatings were prepared through constructing a micro/nano bimodal porous structure via plasma spraying of nano-agglomerated ceramic powders, followed by chemical modification and lubricant infiltration. The pore structure of SLIPS was tailored by varying spraying power. The bimodal porous-structured SLIPS exhibited long-term durability under various rigorous conditions including high shear stress, dynamic immersion, extensive water jet impact, and mechanical abrasion. Particularly, SLIPS-27 coating obtained at a spraying power of 27 kW displayed the most impressive stability and durability, which maintained great slipperiness with slightly increased sliding angle and 72.6 % lubricant retention even after dynamic immersion for 20 days. Additionally, after 10 days of bacterial adhesion assay and 20 days of algae adhesion assay, the SLIPS-27 coating demonstrated reduction rates of 87 %, 92 %, and 94 % with respect to settlements of E. coli, Chlorella, and P. tricornutum, respectively. Besides, after 10 days of immersion, the corrosion current density of SLIPS-27 was nearly two orders of magnitude lower than that of bare substrate, whereas the charge transfer resistance R_ct possessed an increase by two orders of magnitude. The exceptional long-term antifouling and anti-corrosion performance of SLIPS-27 was due to the optimal incorporation of micro/nano bimodal pores, eventually endowing the coating with outstanding lubricant locking and lubricant storage abilities. This work paves a new way to facilely prepare SLIPS with remarkable and durable antifouling and anti-corrosion performance, as well as to advance their practical applications.