Novel synthesis of a self-healing Ce based eco-friendly sealing coating to mitigate corrosion in insulators installed in industrial regions

Abstract

Overcoming hardware corrosion for high voltage insulators is a vital issue to prevent the sudden breakdown of insulators. The development of an efficient, economical, and eco-friendly anti-corrosion coating is essential to replace existing carcinogenic and toxic silicone-based coatings used by insulator industries. This article investigates the anticorrosion performance of a novel cerium-based sealing coating for insulator pins installed in highly corrosive (35 μm per year) industrial regions. The coating bath parameters were optimized to improve the self-healing, thermal, crack, and corrosion resistance of the coating. After immersion in a 60 000 ppm CeCl₃·7H₂O sealing coating bath for 60 minutes, a Ce-rich and dense protective coating (24.4 μm) is formed on the pin surface. The specimens immersed in a 60 000 ppm Ce sealing coating bath for 60 minutes show the lowest I_corr. The anticorrosion performance is enhanced by 95% for coated pins than non-coated ones. The electrochemical experiments, macroscopic and microscopic structural analysis confirm the anticorrosion performance of Ce-based sealing coatings for high voltage insulator pins. This work will facilitate a new branch of eco-friendly coatings for insulator and power industries.