Study of the efficiency of polypyrrole/ZnO nanocomposites as additives in anticorrosion coatings

Abstract

We synthesized (ZnO nanoparticles)/polypyrrole (ZnO-NPs/PPy) hybrid nanocomposites and used them as additives in an epoxy paint to protect SAE 1020 carbon steel from corrosion. The nanocomposites were obtained by chemical polymerization of pyrrole in aqueous solution and sodium dodecyl sulfate solution containing dispersed ZnO nanoparticles. We characterized the nanoparticles by infrared absorption spectrophotometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A large disparity in the distribution of ZnO particle sizes became evident from the TEM images, which also show the formation of hybrid nanocomposites consisting of polypyrrole coated ZnO nanoparticles. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and open circuit potential (OCP) tests, which were performed on SAE 1020 carbon steel plates coated with epoxy and ZnO-NPs/PPy, have shown that epoxy paints have their efficiency as anticorrosive coatings significantly improved when ZnO-NPs/PPy hybrid nanocomposites are added to them.