Hydrophobic self-healing polymer coatings from carboxylic acid- and fluorine-containing polymer nanocontainers

The development of multifunctional nanocontainers for self-healing coatings is of great interest for environmental and healthcare applications. In this study, we developed a synthetic strategy for a hydrophobic and self-healing anticorrosion coating from carboxylic acid- and fluorine-containing nanocontainers. Initially, well-defined poly (acrylic acid-co-trifluoroethyl methacrylate) microspheres were synthesized with different cross-linking agents by precipitation polymerization. The carboxylic acid groups allow for pH-responsive function to control the release of the encapsulated healing inhibitor to the cracks of polymer coatings on metal surfaces. The fluorinated groups of the polymer nanocontainers can endow the coatings with hydrophobicity. The as-synthesized multifunctional nanocontainers were further doped into the polymer coatings to generate self-healing coatings. The self-healing polymer coatings exhibited good crack inhibition since the inhibitor benzotriazole in pH-responsive nanocontainers can autonomously form new nanobarriers on metal surfaces around cracks after corrosion occurs. Furthermore, due to the micro/nanostructures of hydrophobic microspheres in the polymer coatings, the self-healing coating also exhibited good water resistance. The hydrophobic self-healing polymer coatings from the as-synthesized carboxylic acid- and fluorine-containing nanocontainers for anticorrosion were analyzed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).