Although graphene has been regarded
as the most ideal anticorrosion
filler, to date, some vital problems including poor dispersion, disordered
arrangement, structure defects, and galvanic corrosion remain unresolved,,
thus blocking its potential application in metal protection. In this
work, a bio-inspried multilayered graphene–epoxy composite
coating was fabricated through a scalable spraying approach with well-dispersed
low-defect engineered graphene as the functional filler. Polydopamine
served as an enforcer to improve the dispersity and repair the structure
defects of graphene (π–π interaction) and bridged
the dense graphene layers and epoxy layers (strong adhesion) for forming
“interlock” structures to ensure complete coating systems.
Electrochemical tests confirmed that the bio-inspired composite coating
showed elevated coating resistance from 4.2 × 106 Ω
cm2 for blank coating and 2.5 × 108 Ω
cm2 for blending composite coating to 3.0 × 109 Ω cm2. The highly anisotropic graphene layers
endowed the bio-inspried coating with highly anisotropic thermal and
electrical conductivities, with the in-plane and through-plane thermal
conductivities being 0.78 and 0.21 W/mK, respectively. Besides, the
good anisotropic conductivities make the bio-inspired coating achieve
self-monitoring of structural safety and health. This bio-inspired
strategy provides a fascinating method for constructing high-performance
graphene composite coatings with functional properties.