Stimulus-responsive coatings can provide active corrosion
protection
in response to environmental changes, but they have not reached their
anticipated application prospects because of the intricate preparation
processes of hollow materials and methods for loading corrosion inhibitors.
Herein, polyaniline molybdate corrosion inhibitor and polydopamine-wrapped
titanium dioxide nanocontainers (named TiO2/PANI-MoO4
2–/PDA) are synthesized via a simple three-step
electrostatic assembly technique. Introducing TiO2/PANI-MoO4
2–/PDA nanocontainers in smart waterborne
epoxy (WEP) coatings affords the latter with high barriers and long-term
corrosion protection. The successful deposition of each layer on the
TiO2 nanocontainer surface was validated via Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy,
and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Release test results show that
the molybdate corrosion inhibitor exhibits notable pH-responsive activity
under acidic conditions and slow release in neutral environments,
which improves the corrosion resistance of coatings. The addition
of synthetic nanocontainers greatly improves the impermeability of
WEP coatings. The charge transfer resistance of WEP/TiO2/PANI-MoO4
2–/PDA coatings is 1.79 ×
1011 Ω cm2 after 30 day immersion in a
3.5 wt % NaCl solution, which is 3.32 × 105 times
higher than that of WEP coatings. WEP/TiO2/PANI-MoO4
2–/PDA coatings remain uniform and reliable,
even after 50 days of salt spray exposure. The excellent corrosion
protection of WEP/TiO2/PANI-MoO4
2–/PDA coatings is attributed to (1) the enhanced dispersion and compatibility
of PDA in the coating for nanocontainers, (2) the combination of phenolic
hydroxyl groups of PDA and Fe, which inhibit corrosion activity on
the exposed metal surface, and (3) the on-demand release of the MoO4
2– inhibitor, which provides sustained passivation
protection. This work proposes a strategy to simplify the preparation
of responsive long-term anticorrosion coatings and extend their service
lives.