In so called smart or intelligent self-healing coatings active agents that are safely stored inside the coating are released upon onset of corrosion. This release is triggered by a suitable trigger signal that should be a safe indicator for the onset of corrosion and its continuation. Different from the current standard where release from pigments occurs via leaching, the safe storage should ensure that there is no uncontrolled release of the active agents when they are not needed for inhibiting corrosion and restoring protection. While there are many studies on different concepts for storage and active release triggered by corrosion, achieving an efficient transport of the released agents to the defective site(s) is a likewise crucial but so far widely neglected issue. Recently it was proposed that the signal spreading from the defect into the coating can be significantly enhanced by the use of layers of conducting polymer, such as polypyrrole, applied as an intermediate layer between the metal substrate and the organic coating. In that case the decrease in potential is the signal that is spread. Here, we will show that by such polypyrrole layers also the transport of active agents can be significantly enhanced. To enable a fundamental in-depth study of the mobility of active agents from the coating towards the defective site, a dedicated experimental model set-up was designed especially for the study of ions transport. The main question to be addressed was whether the main transport will be along the metal│PPy interface or rather through the matrix of the reduced polypyrrole. Zinc was chosen as metallic substrate, owing to its importance in galvanized steel products. The corrosion potential at the defective site was used as a measure for the amount of corrosion inhibitor released into the defect and hence as a measure to reflect the ionic transport and self-healing efficiency of the coating by different corrosion inhibitors. The progress of polypyrrole reduction, in turn, was monitored by use of Scanning Kelvin Probe (SKP) for recording the change of potential as a function of distance from the defect and of time. The concentration of corrosion inhibitor at the defective site was also quantified using ICP-MS (OES) analysis of the solution in the defect at different times. In order to ensure for reliable quantification of the transport that released corrosion inhibitor moving towards the defect is not reacting with corroding metal at the interface special PVB│PPy│Au-Glass model samples were utilized. The results indicate that Ce4+ is more effective than Ce3+ for reaching and passivating the defect. In addition, organic corrosion inhibitors (8-HQ, β-CD and L-Car) were found to be highly efficient in inhibiting the defective site. This is proposed to be due through a synergistic mechanism, which is based on an interaction of the passivating effect of these corrosion inhibitors and the passivating effect of polypyrrole. The synergistic mechanism shows astonishing passivation effects, resulting in anodic potential shifts of the corrosion potential of more than 600 mV. Concerning the main path for ionic transport, it was found that this occurs mainly through the matrix of the (partially) reduced polypyrrole. Hence, the transport of positive ions should be favored compared to the one of negative ions.
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