Preparation and anticorrosion resistance of a self-curing epoxy nanocomposite coating based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles loaded with perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane

Organic coatings are prone to failure due to diffusion of the corrosion media toward the metal surface through the microcracks caused by internal and environmental stresses especially in immersion environment. In order to extend the service lifetime of organic coatings, we developed a self-curing epoxy resin/perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane (POTS)-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) nanocomposite (SEP/POTS-MSNs) coating, by embedding the POTS-loaded MSNs (POTS-MSNs) into an SEP resin. Fourier transform infrared, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analyses were conducted to confirm the successful loading of POTS in the MSNs. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to characterize the loading amount of POTS. The corrosion protection properties of the SEP, SEP/MSNs, and SEP/POTS-MSNs coatings were evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization tests. The results indicate that the SEP/POTS-MSNs coating with only 30 μm thickness showed corrosion resistance with Z _{f = 0.01 Hz} of 4.7 × 10⁸ Ω/cm² and i_corr of 0.026 nA/cm² after 58 hr of immersion in boiling water, which were both two orders of magnitude higher than those of the SEP coating. The SEP/POTS-MSNs coating combines the advantages of the SEP coating and the POTS-MSNs. We anticipate that the SEP/POTS-MSNs coating has promising potential for use in immersion environments.