Incorporation of silica network and modified graphene oxide into epoxy resin for improving thermal and anticorrosion properties

Improvement mechanism of NO photocatalytic degradation performance of self-cleaning synergistic photocatalytic coating under high humidity

Photocatalytic coating has been widely studied as a promising material to remove air pollutants. However, the effectiveness and long-term effect of photocatalysis in high relative humidity environment is still the main challenge in this field. In this study, a fluorinated WO₃-TiO₂ nanorods/SiO₂ epoxy photocatalytic superamphiphobic coating (FTSE coating) was prepared using a simple spraying method. The micromorphology and chemical composition of FTSE coating was characterized by SEM, EDS, FT-IR, XPS and TGA techniques. The advanced contact angle and hysteresis angle test show that the FTSE coating had excellent superamphiphobicity. The mechanical abrasions, corrosion resistance and UV aging tests show that the FTSE coating exhibited reasonable durability. Besides, the NO degradation efficiency of hydrophilic and superamphiphobic coatings with contact angles of 20.19°, 87.74°, 162.93° and 164.47° was tested in different humidity environment. The results showed that the superamphiphobic coating exhibited more superior photocatalytic degradation efficiency (84.02%) than the hydrophilic coating (51.38%) at a high relative humidity (RH=98%). Finally, FTSE coating exhibited prominent photocatalytic stability and the synergistic effect of photocatalysis and self-cleaning. After 30 d outdoor weathering test, the NO degradation efficiency decreased by 13.07% and recovered to the original level after flushing. The improvement mechanism of NO degradation performance was proposed based on the characteristics of superamphiphobic surface.

Preparation and non-isothermal cure kinetics study of epoxy resin nanocomposites with amine and epoxy functionalized magnetic nanoparticles

Amine-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles NiFe2O4@SiO2@Amine (AMNP), and epoxy functionalized magnetic nanoparticles, CuFe2O4@SiO2@Epoxy (EMNP) were synthesized in three steps. Homogeneous stable dispersion of AMNP and EMNP, at concentrations of 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 wt% in epoxy resin were prepared using stoichiometric amounts of 4,4’-diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS) as a curing. The optimum ratio of AMNP and EMNP were found to be 5%, and these were investigated by the total enthalpy of the curing reaction using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms at 10°C/min. The cure kinetics of epoxy resin-functional magnetic nanoparticles-DDS composites were studied using non-isothermal DSC thermograms at different heating rates (5, 10, 15, 20°C/min). The kinetic parameters of the curing process, such as activation energy ( Ea), pre-exponential factor ( A), and rate constant ( k) were determined using several non-isothermal kinetic methods: Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS), Kissinger, Straink, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (OFW), and Bosewell. The kinetic curing values obtained with different kinetic methods are well-matched. The Ea values were calculated in the range of 59.80 to 65.94, 57.69 to 63.92, and 45.38 to 52.45 kJ.mol−1 for the DGEBA/DDS, DGEBA/DDS/AMNP, and DGEBA/DDS/EMNP systems respectively. Also, The A values, using the Kissinger method, were calculated to be in the range of 7.0 × 105, 4.0 × 105, and 0.2 × 105 S−1 for the DGEBA/DDS, DGEBA/DDS/AMNP, and DGEBA/DDS/EMNP systems respectively. The glass transition temperatures of cured resins were determined with DSC, and the surface morphology of the nanocomposites and also the dispersion of the nanoparticles were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Research on the Preparation and Anticorrosion Properties of EP/CeO2-GO Nanocomposite Coating

Due to its special two-dimensional lamellar structure, graphene possesses an excellent shielding effect, hydrophobic characteristics and large specific surface area, which can effectively isolate the internal structure from the external corrosive media. However, lamellar graphene is easy to stack and agglomerate, which limits its anti-corrosion performance. In this paper, cerium oxide-graphene oxide (CeO₂-GO) nanocomposites were prepared by a hydrothermal synthesis method. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were applied for microstructure examination, showing that a large number of nanoscale granular cerium oxide grew on the lamellar graphene oxide surface, which improved the dispersion performance of graphene inside the matrix. The anti-corrosion properties of the coating were analyzed and illustrated by open circuit potential (OCP), frequency response analysis, Tafel curve and Mott-Schottky curve. The results indicated that the CeO₂-GO (4:1) nanocomposite not only eliminated the agglomeration of graphene to some extent, but also prepared the graphene epoxy coating with good dispersion, which further promoted its anti-corrosion performance. The paper proposed a feasible solution for GO dispersion in cement-based materials and lays a solid theoretical foundation for the engineering application of cerium oxide-graphene oxide modified anticorrosive coating.