Epoxy composites coating with Fe3O4 decorated graphene oxide: Modified bio-inspired surface chemistry, synergistic effect and improved anti-corrosion performance

To obtain graphene or graphene derivatives based epoxy composite coatings with high anti-corrosion performance, the morphology of nanostructures, dispersion, and interfacial adhesion are key factors that need to be considered. We here demonstrated the bio-inspired co-modification of graphene oxide/Fe3O4 hybrid (GO-Fe3O4@ poly (DA+KH550)) and its synergistic effect on the anti-corrosion performance of epoxy coating. For this purpose, graphene oxide/Fe3O4 hybrid obtained from hydrothermal route was modified by self-polymerization between dopamine and secondary functional monomer (KH550), which led to the modified bio-inspired surface functionalization. This novel modified bio-inspired functionalization was quite distinct from conventional surface modification or decoration. Namely, abundant amino groups were introduced by modified bio-inspired functionalization, which allowed the graphene oxide/Fe3O4 hybrid to disperse well in epoxy resin and enhanced the interfacial adhesion between modified nanofiller and epoxy resin through chemical crosslinking reaction. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) test revealed that anti-corrosive performance of epoxy coatings was significantly enhanced by addition of 0.5 wt% modified bio-inspired functionalized GO-Fe3O4 hybrid compared with neat epoxy and other nanofillers/epoxy composite coatings. Moreover, the micro-hardness of epoxy coating was enhanced by 71.8% compared with pure epoxy coating at the same loading content. In addition, the anticorrosion mechanism of GO-Fe3O4@poly (DA+KH550) was tentatively discussed.