Polypyrrole coatings for corrosion protection of Al alloy2024: influence of electrodeposition methods, solvents, and ZnO nanoparticle concentrations

Since ZnO nanoparticles increase the electrical conductivity of the polypyrrole (PPy) coatings, an investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of ZnO nanoparticles loading on the corrosion protection performance of PPy coatings on AA2024 Al alloy in 3.5% NaCl solution. At first, some measurements were carried out to find the best experimental conditions containing the electrodeposition method, electrosynthesis solvent composition, and ZnO nanoparticles’ concentration for preparing the optimum PPy coating on Al alloy2024. Three different methods of electrodeposition, namely: cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic, and potentiostatic techniques were analyzed. The anti-corrosion performance of the PPy coatings was evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Tafel polarization methods. The PPy prepared by potentiostatic method exhibited the best performance against corrosion of Al alloy2024 in 3.5% NaCl solution. Then, different mixtures of H2O/ethanol were tested as electrosynthesis solvents for preparation of PPy coatings on the alloy by optimized electrodeposition mode (i.e., potentiostatic). In evaluation of the prepared coatings, the pure water was introduced as the optimum solvent in electrodeposition of PPy. The investigation of different ZnO nanoparticles’ concentrations proved that the PPy coating containing 0.025% ZnO nanoparticles was the optimum coating against the corrosion of Al alloy in NaCl solution. Finally, the long-term evaluation of the corrosion protection performance of the coatings revealed that the optimum coating provided suitable protection against corrosion up to 14 days after immersion.