Facile Fabrication of Novel Multifunctional Lubricant-Infused Surfaces with Exceptional Tribological and Anticorrosive Properties

Abstract

The large-area preparation of excellent lubricating materials with good resistance to leakage and an oxidation atmosphere and ease of replenishment has remained a challenge. Here, inspired by the Nepenthes pitcher slippery surface, we have fabricated multifunctional lubricant-infused surfaces (LISs) via a scalable technique, in which the solid lubricants and the lubricant oil are reciprocally well-combined to overcome their respective weakness. The designed LIS coating exhibits a multiple lubrication ability with a coefficient of friction of 0.022 and ball wear rate of 2.62 × 10^–18 m³·N^–1·m^–1 in air, which are 21 times and three orders of magnitude lower than those of the steel-steel contact under macroscale test conditions (10 N, 5 Hz), respectively. In addition, the outstanding water-repellent and self-cleaning LIS coating enables the resistance to the strong acid or base corrosion even after 30 days of immersion, and the excellent anticorrosion performance during the electrochemical corrosion test. With the exceptional lubrication, multifunctionality performance, and large-scale fabrication capacity, the prepared LIS coating should find potential applications in machines, pipelines, navigation, infrastructures, outdoor equipment, and so on.