One-step fabrication of nanostructured Ni film with lotus effect from deep eutectic solvent

We report a procedure to fabricate nanostructured Ni films via programmed electrochemical deposition from a choline-chloride-based ionic liquid at a high temperature of 90 °C. Three electrodeposition modes using constant voltage, pulse voltage, and reverse pulse voltage produce a variety of nanostructured Ni films with micro/nanobinary surface architectures, such as nanosheets, aligned nanostrips, and hierarchical flowers. The nanostructured Ni films possess face-centered cubic crystal structure. Amazingly, it is found that the electrodeposited Ni films deliver the superhydrophobic surfaces without any further modifications by low surface-energy materials, which might be attributed to the vigorous micro/nanobinary architectures and the surface chemical composition. The electrochemical measurements reveal that the superhydrophobic Ni film exhibit an obvious passivation phenomenon, which could provide enhanced corrosion resistance for the substrate in the aqueous solutions.