Dense carbon film coated on 316L stainless steel was achieved by electrochemical deposition in molten fluoride salt (LiF-NaF-KF 46.5-11.5-42.0 mol%, FLiNaK, m.p. 727K) using C-2(2-) as the C source. The C-2(2-) source was in-situ synthesized in the high temperature eutectic salt by adding mixed Ca/C powders. Results of cyclic voltammetry confirmed the formation of CaC2 and the obtained C coated 316L samples demonstrate satisfactory electrochemical deposition via synthesized C-2(2-). SEM images show that a dense and tunable thickness of C film can be fabricated in this FLiNaK-Ca/C-CaC2 system in the range of 2.0-6.0 mu m by optimizing the deposition conditions such as concentrations of Ca/C, deposition potentials, temperatures and times. Characterizations of the as-prepared C film by Raman spectroscopy imply that deposited films are predominantly composed of low degree crystallization structures. The anti-corrosion behavior of this coated material was verified by potentiodynamic polarization. Compared to bare 316L material, corrosion rate suppression by a factor of more than 16 was determined for a 4.0 mu m C coated 316L sample in 0.1 M HCl+0.5M NaCl solution, indicating the coating provides extremely high anti-corrosion performance. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.