•The superhydrophobic diatomite coatings were fabricated by a facile spray-coating process.•The diatomite-coated meshes can separate a series of oil/ corrosive water mixtures with separation efficiency up to 99.8%.•The superhydrophobic coatings maintained excellent corrosion resistance in a 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution.The separation of oil/water mixtures under acidic, alkaline and salty conditions remains a great challenge. Facile, low-cost and easily scale-up processes for the fabrication functional materials to effective oil/water separation under harsh environment are urgently desired. Herein, a superhydrophobic diatomite coating was successfully fabricated by a facile one-step spray-coating process for the gravity driven separation of oil/water mixtures in strong acidic, alkaline and salty environments. In addition, the as-prepared superhydrophobic diatomite-coated meshes can separate a series of oil/ water mixtures with separation efficiency up to 99.8%. Moreover, the as-prepared coated mesh still maintained a separation efficiency exceeding 99.5% and stable recyclability after 40 separation cycles. Meanwhile, the electrochemical corrosion test results indicated that the superhydrophobic coating maintained excellent chemical stability and corrosion resistant effect in 3.5 wt% NaCl solutions. Therefore, our work provides a facile method to fabricate the superhydrophobic diatomite coatings with outstanding anti-corrosive property that can be used for removal oils from harsh environment.The superhydrophobic diatomite-coated meshes with excellent anti-corrosive property can be used for separation of oils from harsh conditions.Download high-res image (52KB)Download full-size image

Superhydrophobic surface is commonly fabricated by a combination of micro- and nano-scale structure and low surface energy materials. In this paper, superhydrophobic ZnO surfaces with controllable water adhesion have been fabricated by combining both a simple hydrothermal process and self-assembly of stearic acid. We regulate the hydrothermal process by using different zinc salt aqueous solution to control different morphologies of ZnO surfaces. After being modified with stearic acid, the as-prepared ZnO surfaces show an analogous extreme nonwetting property but high contrast water adhesion that ranges from very high to extremely low. This simple and practical method can provide an important strategy for the adhesion adjustment on superhydrophobic surfaces.Graphical► Superhydrophobic ZnO surfaces were fabricated by a simple hydrothermal method. ► The water adhesion on the surfaces was controlled from very high to extremely low. ► A droplet can be transferred from the low adhesive to the high adhesive ZnO surface.