• • Water contact angle of 160° and protective efficiency of 97.5% establish a passive barrier that outperforms conventional superhydrophobic coatings, directly addressing the industrial need for durable corrosion protection in harsh environments.
• • Corrosion-triggered self-healing via MOF-polydopamine interlayer forms protective adsorption films at exposed steel surfaces, mitigating rapid failure from mechanical damage and extending service life in load-bearing applications.
• • Photothermal polydopamine moieties enable early-stage damage detection through infrared thermography, providing a real-time monitoring capability that reduces inspection costs and prevents catastrophic failures in electronic equipment and medical devices.
• • The coordination-dissociation-polymerization mechanism using MOF as a self-sacrificial template offers a scalable synthesis route, with potential for cost parity against legacy chromate-based coatings given the elimination of toxic inhibitors and simplified application.