N-PMI modified PAZ nanocomposite coatings with self-healing function for anticorrosion and antifouling applications

Abstract

With the rapid development of the modern industrial marine economy, metal corrosion and biological fouling of marine ships and engineering equipment have become the main problems affecting the development of the marine industry. Traditional single-function coatings have only anti-corrosion or anti-fouling properties, which cannot meet the current needs of marine industry development for coating protection. In this study, a self-healing coating with good anticorrosion and antifouling properties has been prepared upon functionalization of a film forming resin and modification of a nanofiller. Initially, a modified acrylic resin (PAZ/N-PMI) was successfully synthesized by inserting zinc ions and a structural functional monomer (N-phenyl maleimide; N-PMI) into the polymer chain of an acrylic resin using free radical solution polymerization. A fluorinated silica coated hydroxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes nanocomposite (F-MWCNTs-OH@SiO2) was dispersed in PAZ/N-PMI resin to prepare the composite coating samples. The composite coating showed good performance, in which the antibacterial rate of the composite coating against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was >99.98 %. When F-MWCNTs-OH@SiO2 was 3 wt%, the Zf=0.01Hz of the composite coating reached the highest value, which was 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of the PAZ/N-PMI coating. At the same time, the prepared composite coating also exhibited good self-healing properties. This study provides a broad application prospect for the development of high quality marine anti-corrosion and anti-fouling organic coatings.