Mechanically robust hydrophobic interpenetrating polymer network-based nanocomposite of hyperbranched polyurethane and polystyrene as an effective anticorrosive coating

Abstract

Corrosion of metal surfaces is one of the biggest economic burdens encountered by our advanced metal furnished world and hence protection of them from corrosion got a prime importance of research. Herein, we demonstrated the fabrication of a new protective coating through the interpenetration of bio-based polyurethane and polystyrene with a very minimal amount (0.01–0.1 weight%) of Si/RGO nanohybrid loading. The fabricated nanocomposites showed an excellent improvement in mechanical properties (tensile strength: 148.9–198.9%), thermal stability (initial degradation temperature: 119.1–123.9%) and surface hydrophobicity (static contact angle: 104–114%) upon a very minimal amount of nanohybrid loading. Excellent anticorrosion activity (corrosion inhibition efficiency ∼99.99%) of the fabricated nanocomposites was confirmed from the electrochemical corrosion studies. Most interestingly, the corrosion rate of the bare metal plate reduced significantly (∼7.5 × 10⁶ order) after coating with the nanocomposite containing 0.1 weight% of the nanohybrid. Hence, the fabricated nanocomposites have immense prospects to provide a new route towards the development of mechanically tough anticorrosive functional materials.