Highly hydrophobic polyaniline nanoparticles for anti-corrosion epoxy coatings

Perfluorooctanoic acid doped polyaniline (PFOA/PANI) nanoparticles were successfully prepared through ultrasonication-assisted oxidation polymerization. The prepared PFOA/PANI nanoparticles exhibited high hydrophobicity and good dispersibility in ethanol, which could uniformly distribute in epoxy resin (EP) coatings to enhance their anti-penetrant efficiency towards corrosive media. The corrosion protection properties of PANIcontained coatings on Q215 steel were evaluated and compared through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements in brine. The experimental results demonstrated the PFOA/PANI/EP coatings possessed higher corrosion performance than the EP coatings and HCl-doped PANI-contained EP coatings. Besides, dedoped PFOA molecules from PFOA/PANI nanoparticles can be adsorbed on the surface of steel to form a hydrophobic corrosion inhibition layer, which further improves the corrosion resistance. The impedance of PFOA/PANI/EP coatings continuously increased after the coatings were immersed in brine for more than 2 days, and the impedance modulus at 0.01 Hz was higher than 6 x 108 omega.cm2 after 9 days. The novel method for the preparation of hydrophobic PANI nanoparticles proposed in this work may provide new ideas and methods for developing more high-performance anti-corrosion materials and promoting their applications in corrosion protection.

Automated summary

PFOA/PANI nanoparticles were successfully prepared and applied in epoxy resin coatings to enhance their corrosion resistance. The experimental results demonstrated that PFOA/PANI/EP coatings have higher corrosion performance compared to traditional coatings. Additionally, the formation of a hydrophobic corrosion inhibition layer further improves the coatings' corrosion resistance.