S, P-codoped rGO-phytic acid-polythiophene core–shell; synthesis, modeling, and dual active–passive anti-corrosion performance of epoxy nanocomposite

Abstract

In this study, a novel anticorrosive pigment is introduced to fabricate a smart epoxy coating with bi-active/passive protection capabilities. For this purpose, the dual functionalized S, P-doped graphene oxide (GO) structure was synthesized through the rationed devised approach using phytic acid and polythiophene. The thiophene monomer was successfully polymerized on the modified rGO-Phytic acid (rGO-Phy) sheets. It was observed that the polythiophene nano-scale particles well decorated the rGO-Phy surface, which was proved via Raman, FT-IR, UV–Vis, SEM-EDS, XRD, and TGA analyses. The developed nano-composites were also introduced into the epoxy coating for anti-corrosive purposes. The corrosion retardation performance of the exerted coatings on the mild steel panels shows that the rGO-Phytic acid-Polythiophene (rGO-Phy-Pth) nano-composites inclusion into the epoxy composite coating endows the self-healing performance in line with the extraordinary barrier feature bring about the stable protection for almost 9 weeks. The achieved outstanding self-healing potential is assigned to the simultaneous controlled release of the polythiophene and phytic acid at the damaged area from the GO sheets, resulting in a film formation with increasing the resistance up to 50 kΩ cm2 while the blank sample demonstrated the decreasing trend.