To improve the corrosion inhibition of zinc-rich epoxy (ZRE) composite coatings and shed light on the influence of the spatial structure of graphene fillers on the coatings' performance, three-dimensional graphene (3DG) and a conventional graphene sheet (G) were used to modify the ZRE composite paint, respectively. The effect of introducing the 2D G fillers on the anti-corrosion behavior of ZRE was studied comprehensively, and its optimal content was determined to be 0.5 wt%. Interestingly, it was found that, comparing with 2D graphene sheets, the corrosion resistance of the ZRE coating could be enhanced more significantly with incorporating even less 3DG. With introducing only 0.1 wt% 3DG, the corrosion current intensity of the resulting 3DG/ZRE coating was reduced to be about 1/10 that of the G/ZRE coating with the same graphene content and 27% of that of the optimized G/ZRE. The corrosion products of the coating were analyzed with the XRD technique. The results indicated that, in contrast to neat ZRE coating, Zn5(CO3)2(OH)6 was absent from the corroded 3DG/ZRE coating, confirming its improved long-term anti-corrosion performance. The porous interconnected framework and high crystallinity of 3DG could contribute to not only its facilely mixing with epoxy resin, but also its effective incorporation into the conductive network of zinc micro-flakes, thus enhancing the corrosion resistance of its ZRE coating at a lower content. The innovative technology to improve the anti-corrosion performance of the ZRE coatings via using the 3D graphene fillers should be capable to be extended to other 2D fillers, such as MXenes.
Keywords: cathodic protection; corrosion resistance; graphene foam; graphene sheets; zinc-rich epoxy coating.