Introducing cyano-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes to improve corrosion resistance and mechanical performance of poly(arylene ether nitrile) coating

Abstract

Seeking high-performance coating with long service life to protect metallic substrates under complex corrosion environment has attracted abundant attention in modern industry. In this work, poly(arylene ether nitrile) (PEN) was applied as protective coating on metallic substrates for the first time, and the cyano- functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-CN) was introduced to further enhance the corrosion resistance and mechanical performance of the PEN coating. Electrochemical results demonstrated that the MWCNTs-CN incorporated composite coating possessed outstanding corrosion resistance that the |Z| 0.01Hz remained 196.9 MΩ cm 2 after 100 days' immersion process in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution, which was 2 orders of magnitude higher than the pure PEN coating. Besides, an evident improvement was investigated from the tensile strength of MWCNTs-CN/PEN coatings, which showed an increment about 20.1% of tensile strength was gained when 1 wt% of MWCNTs-CN was introduced. Benefiting from these advantages, this work is expected to provide a novel insight in high-performance protective coating. The well-dispersed MWCNT-CN fillers are successfully fabricated through the decomposition of AIBN, which significantly enhances the corrosion resistance and mechanical performance of PEN coating. • PEN was applied as protective coating on metallic substrate for the first time. • Dispersion of MWCNTs in PEN is notably enhanced via the cyanogen modification. • The corrosion resistance of MWCNTs-CN/PEN composite coating enhanced sharply. • The mechanical properties of MWCNTs-CN/PEN composite coating increased obviously.