Decorated fibrous silica epoxy coating exhibiting anti-corrosion properties

In this paper we report a simple approach of preparation of fibrous superhydrophobic silica employing a low cost and scalable methodology. The prepared superhydrophobic fibrous silica was characterized using thermal gravimetric analysis, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR) and C-13 solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The findings revealed that the hydrophobic alkyl chains were introduced into silica particles via modification and the fibrous silica particles were modified from a hydrophilic to hydrophobic nature. TEM analysis revealed that the unique morphology of the fibrous silica remained intact after its modification with alkoxysilane reagents. The particles were spatially stuck on the surface of the epoxy resin coating with the purpose to create a rough surface with random micro/nano structures. The prepared super hydrophobic surface exhibited robust water-repellent surface, excellent durability and corrosion resistance. It not only introduces a cost-effective process for superhydrophobic modification of epoxy coating, but also provides a promising strategy to protect metals by simultaneously combining the protective functions of both superhydrophobic surface and organic protective coating, which could be employed for large-scale industrial fabrication of superhydrophobic epoxy coating onto steel materials.