Designing a dual-functional epoxy composite system with self-healing/barrier anti-corrosion performance using graphene oxide nano-scale platforms decorated with zinc doped-conductive polypyrrole nanoparticles with great environmental stability and non-toxicity

Designing a novel epoxy composite system with dual self-healing/barrier anti-corrosion functions using graphene oxide (GO) nano-platforms decorated by polypyrrole (PPy) nanoparticles doped with zinc metal ions is the major objective of this research attempt. GO-PPy-Zn nanoplatform was fabricated via one-pot polymerization of pyrrole monomers on GO and two direct/indirect methods of zinc doping. In order to verify the PPy nanoparticles synthesis on GO sheets several analyses such as UV–visible, XPS, HR-TEM and FE-SEM were performed. The epoxy nanocomposite coatings containing GO-PPy and GO-PPy-Zn nanoplatforms were fabricated and applied on carbon steel. The nanocomposite coatings anti-corrosion capability was examined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), salt spray and pull-off adhesion test methods. The results of XPS analysis and HR-TEM and FE-SEM images demonstrated the zinc doped PPy nanoparticles formation on the GO nanoplatform. The great potency of GO-PPy-Zn on the epoxy coating anti-corrosion performance promotion, self-healing-barrier properties enhancement and cathodic delamination resistance improvement were obtained on carbon steel.