Anticorrosion performance of waterborne polyacrylate coatings with 2-methylimidazole modified rGO

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets are functionalized with 2-methylimidazole (2-MI) to construct a high-efficiency corrosion resistant composite for waterborne polyacrylate coatings. The functional composites are confirmed structural and morphological investigation of sheets by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR), Raman, x-ray diffraction(XRD), thermogravimetry(TGA), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. It is found from the electrochemical test results that after inclusion of 0.5 wt.% 2-MI/rGO nanoparticles incorporation into polyacrylate coatings, the Rct increased from 4.08E03 Ω.cm2 (for pure resin) to 4.02E05 Ω.cm2 in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution, and the protective efficiency is up to 98.15% for carbon steel. The effective healing process can be concluded that the shield effect of rGO composites greatly extend the diffusion path of corrosion factor and blocked the electrolyte penetration and corrosion extension.