Applications for graphene oxide (GO) in the field of corrosion protection will be severely constrained by the material’s poor dispersion and compatibility with epoxy resins, as well as the absence of self-healing corrosion protection in GO-based epoxy coatings. In this work, we developed a bi-functional 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) inhibitor-encapsulating GO-based nanocomposite (GAM) with pH-responsive release by implanting attapulgite (ATP) nanorods on the surface of GO. Additionally, GO-based nanocomposite can form covalent connections with epoxy resins and be evenly distributed in epoxy film via a ring opening process. Moreover, improved epoxy film compatibility and dispersion result in elevated mechanical strength and better impermeability, which prevent corrosion in both the active and passive modes. The corrosion resistance of GAM self-healing coating increased as the submersion period exceeded 24 h up to 0.54 M Ω cm2, resulting in the release of MBT inhibitor to form a passivation film at the defective region. Moreover, the improved charge transfer resistance (Rct) and the coating’s resistance to corrosive species (Rc) attribute to the self-healing ability of the GAM coating. The incorporation of GAM (2 %) nanocomposites into epoxy films enables long-term protection of AA2024-T3 by combining passive and self-healing corrosion prevention.