Formulation of epoxy based anticorrosion coating incorporated with biocompatible nano TiO2-PEDOT:PSS hybrid composite

Abstract

Anticorrosion coatings are a common means of corrosion control. For the past few years, one of the more widely used anticorrosion coatings was chromium based. However, chromium was found to be highly toxic and its use has been discontinued. An epoxy-based coating is formulated by incorporating a biocompatible hybrid composite of inorganic nano titanium dioxide (TiO2) and organic poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) in an epoxy matrix. The nanocomposite was mixed at a 3:1 ratio and dispersed in the epoxy matrix at varying weight percentage (1-5 wt. %). The toxicity effect of the nano TiO2-PEDOT:PSS composite was evaluated via assay of fibroblast cells viability. The formulated coating was analysed for corrosion resistance using potentiodynamic polarization (PP). The cytotoxicity assay verified that this nanocomposite is indeed non-toxic with the cell viability percentage as high as 178% and 159% after 24 and 48 hours of treatment, respectively. The PP analysis showed that the coating containing 3 wt. % nanocomposite has the most viable anticorrosion properties, with Ecorr value at-0.32467 V, Icorr value at 0.534 μA/cm2 and the lowest corrosion rate at 0.006204 mm/yr. The results showed that the nanocomposite additive is biocompatible and is efficient as anticorrosive additive in coatings.