In a “smart” corrosion-protective coating system, both the active anti-corrosion and the early corrosion detection of underlying metals are highly required. It is practical significant to develop materials that possess self-detecting of the early local corrosion and self-healing of coating defects simultaneously. The organic compound 8-hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) is an effective inhibitor and a fluorescent sensor probe for corrosion of aluminum alloy. Therefore, a layer double hydroxide (LDH) nanocontainer film loaded with the 8HQ was developed for the active corrosion protection purpose of aluminum alloy AA2024. In corrosive environments, the 8HQ are released from LDH film to inhibit the corrosion process, leading to the loss of the complexation with Al3+ ions in LDH laminates, thus turning off fluorescence. Results show that the LDH film loaded with 8HQ composites can improve the anti-corrosion performance of the film by releasing corrosion inhibitors on demand. Simultaneously, due to the complexation of 8HQ and Al3+ ions, the LDH film is fluorescent at the initial stage under ultraviolet light, and then becomes non-fluorescent at the corrosion sites, indicating the corrosion evolution process of the coating. The 8HQ-loaded LDH film with self-healing and self-detecting dual functions provides promising opportunities for the effective corrosion protection of aluminum alloy due to its “smart” and multifunctional properties.

In this study, a duplex coating system (LDH-V/SG-Ce) of vanadate-intercalated layered double hydroxide (LDH) and Ce-doped sol–gel (SG) layers was developed for the purpose of active corrosion protection of the aluminum alloy AA2024.ZnAl-LDH film was grown in situ on the surface of an aluminum alloy using a hydrothermal method and intercalated with V2O74− anions as corrosion inhibitors, and sealed with a Ce (III)-doped silane coating using a sol–gel technique. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were used to analyze the microstructure, surface functional groups and structure of the LDH-V/SG-Ce film. The uniform and compact silane layer was covered both in the pores and on top of the LDH film. The results of glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GDOES) indicated that V2O74− and Ce (III) ions were loaded in the LDH layer and silane film, respectively. The potentiodynamic polarization results showed that the corrosion current density of the bilayer system in the presence of corrosion inhibitors was reduced to 1.92 × 10−8 A/cm2. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results showed that the LDH-V/SG-Ce duplex coating could provide effective protection for the aluminum alloy after being exposed to a corrosive solution for 14 days.