An L-cysteine-bioinspired calcium phosphate (Ca-P) coating is prepared upon magnesium alloy AZ31 in a water bath at 60 ℃.FE-SEM,FTIR,XRD,electrochemical characterization,hydrogen evolution tests and XPS were used to evaluate the microstructure,chemistry and corrosion performance of the samples.Results indicate that L-cysteine promotes the nucleation process of the coating and significantly increases its thickness.This can be attributed to the complexation of the carboxyl group and mercapto group of L-cysteine with calcium ions.Indeed,the obtained Ca-P coating possesses higher corrosion resistance than that prepared in L-cysteine-free bath.