Waterborne composite coatings were formulated for protection of metallic bipolar plates. The challenges lied in two aspects, one was the confliction between high electrical conductivity and good corrosion protection properties; the other was the water dispersibility of the constituent phases. Water-solubility of polyaniline (PANI) were controlled by adding polystyrene sulfonic acid during the polymerization of aniline. Graphene was functionalized by p-aminobenzoic acid and p-phenylenediamine to enhance the compatibility with PANI, while keeping the electrical conductivity of graphene at around 169 S/cm. Upon in-situ polymerization of the functionalized graphene/PANI composites, the electrical conductivity varied significantly from 41 S/cm to 91 S/cm with the surface functionality of graphene. The composite coatings were prepared thereafter with functionalized graphene/PANI/carbon black on the surface of 316 L stainless steel by centrifugal spraying coating. The interfacial contact resistance of the coatings reached 4 mΩ·cm2, comparable to Au coatings, but the corrosion current density was 4.37 μA/cm2 due to the existence of the hydrophilic groups in waterborne coatings, like amino groups and sulfonic acid groups. A post-treatment was carried out to consume some of the amino groups, so that the corrosion current density was decreased to 0.88 μA/cm2.
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