Improvement of anti-corrosion performance of an epoxy coating using hybrid UiO-66-NH2/carbon nanotubes nanocomposite

In this study, a porous nanocontainer from UiO-66-NH2/CNTs nanocomposite with an excellent barrier characteristics was constructed through amine-functionalized Zr-based metal organic framework. The characterization of the prepared nano-materials were performed using different analyses such as FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDS, TEM, and BET and the results proved the successful synthesize of UiO-66-NH2/CNTs nanocomposite. The corrosion protection performance of the coated panels was investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), salt spray, and contact angle measurement. The EIS results revealed that unmodified and UiO-66-NH2 containing coating in 3.5 wt.% NaCl electrolyte were failed after 45 days but the corrosion was negligible in UiO-66-NH2/CNTs coating due to high pore resistance values even after 45 days. Salt spray and contact angle measurements confirmed that UiO-66-NH2/CNTs containing coating acts as an efficient barrier against wet saline environment even at long exposure times. This is attributed to uniform dispersion in the epoxy matrix and formation of a uniform nanocomposite coating.