Investigation of Electrophoretic Deposition of PANI Nano fibers as a Manufacturing Technology for corrosion protection

Abstract

In this study, the process of electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of polyaniline (PANI) film was described kinetically via utilizing three models; Hamaker, Zhang, and Baldisseri for both quantitative and statistically employing the response surface method (RSM). Zeta potential and particle analyzer were used to determine the electrostatic force existing between particles of the suspension. Nevertheless, to demonstrate the parameters of EPD and its effects on the properties of the films deposited at a time interval of (180–600 s), in-depth research on the fundamentals of the kinetics of PANI-EPD is necessary. Erstwhile, researchers reported a cathodic reduction of the PANI during EPD simultaneously, entangling the process and control of kinetics. Consequently, in this work, low voltages were accustomed to avert an important PANI, reducing during the process of EPD, established via SEM, XRD, and FT-IR. Therefore, the kinetics of PANI-EPD was initiated as a function of voltage and time of deposition, followed by deposited films characterization microscopically. The results of the experiments indicated that it follows a linear deposition growth law, which agrees with the predictions of Hamaker's law. In comparison, the profilometry and optical absorbance provide an estimate of PANI deposition rate, density, and extinction coefficient. Baldisseri model was also shown to reproduce the data of the experiment among other kinetics of semi-empirical equations. Transition in the mechanism of deposition from linear mode to parabolic was also observed. This study shall help in comprehending the process of thermal degradation in-depth and also be a useful tool in anticipating thermal stability, which can also assist in bypassing unintended thermal degradation of polymeric products in various industries.