Application of EIS and transmission line model to study the effect of arrangement of graphene on electromagnetic shielding and cathodic protection performance of zinc-rich waterborne epoxy coatings

Abstract

In this paper, polyol solvothermal method was applied to prepare magnetic graphene (Fe3O4@G), with the utilization of FeCl3 as the iron source. The waterborne zinc-rich epoxy coatings without Fe3O4@G, and with unoriented Fe3O4@G or oriented Fe3O4@G were produced, and the arrangement of Fe3O4@G on the shielding and cathodic protection performance of the coatings were studied. Ordered by uniform strong magnetic field, the shielding performance of the oriented distribution array of Fe3O4@G was significantly improved because of the arrangement parallel to the surface of the metal substrate. On the other side, compared to disordered random distribution, the ordered and aligned arrangement of Fe3O4@G impaired the cathodic protection performance of zinc-rich coatings, and this was related to the reduction of electron conduction channels in the coatings.