The effect of a barrier layer composed of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with edge adsorption of K + (rGOK + ) on anticorrosive performance was investigated. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), DC polarisation technique and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to investigate the morphology, corrosion product, corrosion mechanism and process. XPS results show that the corrosion products are ZnCl 2 , Zn(OH) 2 , ZnCO 3 and Zn 5 (OH) 8 Cl 2 . SEM, energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS), polarisation curve and EIS show that the coating with the most rGOK + not only builds a barrier layer but also improves the utilisation of zinc powder, thereby providing better corrosion protection for the substrate despite the 30% reduction in zinc powder usage.