Encapsulating 8-hydroxyquinoline in graphene oxide-stabilized polystyrene containers and its anticorrosion performance

We report the formation of encapsulated graphene oxide/polystyrene (GO/PS) containers via Pickering emulsion polymerization of oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by GO sheets. Without further functionalization, the as-synthesized GO sheets were used for emulsion stabilization to minimize the process step. A one-step process was developed to encapsulate 8-Hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) in GO/PS containers. FT-IR study confirmed the encapsulation. The inhibiting effect of 8-HQ was found to affect the kinetics of the emulsion polymerization and shift the polymerization temperature to a higher value. A detailed study of stability, size, and morphology of encapsulated containers (PS/GO) was carried out as a function of GO-to-oil ratio and oil volume fraction in the formulation, to optimize the process parameters. A possible mechanism for the formation of GO/PS containers at various GO-to-oil ratios was discussed. The corrosion inhibition performance of 8-HQ-encapsulated containers was studied in an epoxy coating. These encapsulated containers induced long-term anticorrosive property to the coating. The use of cost-effective materials and a scalable method used in this work can be utilized to prepare environmentally friendly coatings for large-area applications.