A composite coating based on Ti3C2Tx MXene and M16 corrosion inhibitor for self-healing anti-corrosion and wear resistance

In this study, two-dimensional transition metal carbides and carbon nitride (MXene) and mesoporous silica nanoparticles (SiO 2 ) loaded with corrosion inhibitor 1-(3-((N-n-butyl) aminecarboxamido) propyl)-3-hexadecyl imidazolidin bromide (M16) were used to prepare a M16@MXene-SiO 2 nanocomposite with good anti-corrosion and wear resistance. The structure and composition of the nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The synthesized M16@MXene-SiO 2 nanocomposite was then added to an epoxy coating on Q235 carbon steel. The uniform distribution of M16@MXene-SiO 2 in the coating was confirmed by SEM and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) test showed that the corrosion resistance of epoxy coating was the best when the addition amount of M16@MXene-SiO 2 was 5 wt%, and its electrochemical impedance could reach 5.98 × 10 9  Ω∙cm 2 . After 144 h immersion, the coating resistance (R c ) of the epoxy coating decreased to 3.88 × 10 3  Ω∙cm 2 , and that of the epoxy coating with M16@MXene-SiO 2 increased to 1.01 × 10 4  Ω∙cm 2 . The corrosion inhibition efficiency of M16@MXene-SiO 2 was tested by potentiodynamic polarization. After immersion for 24 h, the corrosion current density (I corr ) of the epoxy coating was 2.23 × 10 −7 A∙cm −2 , which reduced to 4.38 × 10 −8 A∙cm −2 after adding M16@MXene-SiO 2 and the corrosion inhibition efficiency increased by 80.36 %. In addition, the wear resistance of the epoxy coating was tested by reciprocating friction experiment. The friction coefficient of the epoxy coating decreased from 0.44 to 0.12 after adding 5 wt% M16@MXene-SiO 2 . The results showed that the composite coating had excellent corrosion resistance, self-healing properties and wear resistance. The improvement in corrosion could be explained by the filling of coating defects with MXene-SiO 2 and the formation of corrosion inhibitor films. The improvement of friction performance was mainly attributed to the friction transfer film formed by MXene-SiO 2 and M16.