Synthesis and Characterization of organic-inhibitor encapsulated nanocontainers for anticorrosion and self-healing properties

Abstract

In recent decades, a lot of research has been done on zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) as a stimulus-responsive nanomaterial and means of molecular administration due to its porosity structure. We successfully synthesize HMSN-HABI@ZIF-8 as novel corrosion inhibitor-encapsulated nanocontainer using ZIF-8 as pH-responsive gatekeeper, self-sacrificial template for hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticle (HMSN). The mesoporous HMSN encapsulate HABI (hydroxyaryl benzimidazole) as corrosion inhibitor. The finding shows that HMSN-HABI@ZIF-8 has remarkable pH-triggered activity in both acidic and alkaline environment. The synthesised HMSN-HABI@ZIF-8 can interact covalently with epoxy resin, resulting in better compatibility and more consistent dispersion behaviour of nanocontainers in the coating. Potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) curves, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) are techniques demonstrate the remarkable self-healing capabilities and corrosion protection of epoxy composite coating containing HMSN-HABI@ZIF-8. Higher crosslinking densities, the hydrophobicity of ZIF-8, the strong compatibility of HMSN-HABI@ZIF-8, and the controlled release of HABI in the epoxy composite coating are all responsible for anticorrosion and self- healing properties. This work is thought to be very beneficial for prolonging the service life of different anticorrosion coating.