Zinc and graphene oxide composites as new protective coatings for oil and gas pipes

Abstract

A method was developed to obtain a durable coating consisting of zinc and graphene oxide (Zn-GO) in order to reduce the mechanical wear and tear rate of oil and gas pipelines made of steel. Graphene oxide was obtained from graphite by wet chemical oxidation (unmodified and modified Hummers’ method) using potassium permanganate and sulfuric acid. The process was carried out at various temperatures. The steel was covered with an ultrathin layer of Zn-GO using the electrophoretic deposition method. The GO particle size (< 90 nm) was confirmed by XRD and laser analysis. For GO particles obtained by the modified Hummers’ method, a significant correlation was observed in the scratch (R2 = 0.87) and the Vickers microhardness tests (R2 = 0.93), which indicates a lower wear rate of Zn-GO-coated steel.