Reduced graphene oxide/silica nanocomposite-reinforced anticorrosive fluorocarbon coating

Reduced graphene oxide-silica (rGO/SiO₂) nanocomposite filler was prepared with a ball milling process and then modified using a coupling agent of NH₂C₃H₆Si(OC₂H₅)₃ (KH-550) to improve its dispersion in the fluoroethylene vinyl ether (FEVE) coating. The surface properties and morphologies of the modified rGO/SiO₂ (M-rGO/SiO₂) nanocomposite filler and M-rGO/SiO₂-reinforced FEVE coating were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Tafel polarization curves were applied to illustrate the corrosion resistance of the coating. The results showed that the M-rGO/SiO₂ composite can disperse well in the coating and efficiently extend the corrosion path, enhancing the anti-corrosion property of the FEVE coating. Therefore, the |Z|_{0.01 Hz} of M-rGO/SiO₂ reinforced FEVE coating maintained at around 10¹⁰ Ω·cm² in the 30 days test cycle and a protection efficiency of up to 95.18% was achieved.