Electroactive Epoxy-Titania Hybrid Anti-Corrosive Coatings Prepared by Small Basic Molecule-Catalyzed Sol-Gel Route
This article, the preparation and corrosion protection studies of a series of electroactive epoxy titanium dioxide (EET) hybrid materials containing conjugated segments of electroactive amino-capped aniline trimer (ACAT) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles of ~100 nm in diameter was first presented. It should be noted that EET at higher concentration of TiO2 was found to reveal better corrosion protection effect as compared to neat electroactive epoxy coating on cold-rolled steel (CRS) electrode based on electrochemical corrosion measurements in 3.5 wt% NaCl electrolyte. Effective enhancement of corrosion protection of EET coatings could be interpreted by electroactive epoxy as a densely physical barrier coating and the redox catalytic capabilities of ACAT units existed in EET may induce the formation of passive metal oxide layers on CRS electrode. Further the well-dispersed TiO2 nanoparticles in EET matrix could act as effective hinder to enhance the oxygen barrier property of EET.