In this work, we have developed a facile and inexpensive method to fabricate anti-corrosive and hydrophobic surface with hierarchical micro and nano structures. We demonstrate for the first time the use of praseodymium oxide doped zinc oxide (Pr6O11-ZnO) nanocomposites loaded in a hybrid sol-gel (SiOx/ZrOx) layer, to effectively protect the underlying steel substrate from corrosion attack. The influence of Pr6O11-ZnO gives the surprising aspects based on active anti-corrosion and hydrophobic coatings. The spherical SiO2 particles have been successfully coated with Pr6O11-ZnO layer through sol-gel process. The resulted SiO2@Pr6O11-ZnO core-shell was characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The barrier properties of the intact coatings were assessed by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The fabrication of SiO2@Pr6O11-ZnO shows dual properties of hydrophobic and anti-corrosion micro/nanostructured sol-gel coatings follows a single/simple step coating procedure. This study has led to a better understanding factor influencing the anti-corrosion performance with embedded nanocomposites. These developments are particularly for silane network@ Pr6O11-ZnO for self-healing and self-cleaning behavior which can be designed for new protective coating system. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.