Preparation of SiO2/ZrO2 ceramic nanocomposite coating on Aluminum alloys as metallic part of the photovoltaic cells and study its corrosion behavior.

Abstract

Nowadays due to water shortage, the use of air humidity as the sustainable solution has been considered by cities located in coastal zones; especially in warm and humid climate. However, the use of air humidity also has its own problems such as corrosion of metal parts in photovoltaic cells that used for energy supplying and they are often made of Aluminum alloy. Therefore different methods such as coating have been considered by the user of photovoltaic cells in corrosive conditions in order to reduce corrosion. So in this study, SiO2- ZrO2 ceramic nanocomposite coatings were put on AA2024-T4 Aluminum alloy by Sol-Gel method and dip-coating technique. The films with different compositions have been prepared and morphology and functional groups of samples have been specified by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The corrosion behavior of the coatings was evaluated by polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement in 3.5 % NaCl. The results base on polarization and EIS showed that SiO2-ZrO2 ceramic nanocomposite coatings improved corrosion resistance properties of Aluminum alloy and film with 0.25ml Zirconium alkoxide shows the best corrosion resistance.