Hydrophobic self-healing polymer coatings from carboxylic acid- and fluorine-containing polymer nanocontainers

The development of multifunctional nanocontainers for self-healing coatings is of great interest for environmental and healthcare applications. In this study, we developed a synthetic strategy for a hydrophobic and self-healing anticorrosion coating from carboxylic acid- and fluorine-containing nanocontainers. Initially, well-defined poly (acrylic acid- co -trifluoroethyl methacrylate) microspheres were synthesized with different crosslinking agents by precipitation polymerization. The carboxylic acid groups allow for pH-responsive function to control the release of the encapsulated healing inhibitor to the cracks of polymer coatings on metal surfaces . The fluorinated groups of the polymer nanocontainers can endow the coatings with hydrophobicity . The as-synthesized multifunctional nanocontainers were further doped into the polymer coatings to generate self-healing coatings. The self-healing polymer coatings exhibited good crack inhibition since the inhibitor benzotriazole in pH-responsive nanocontainers can autonomously form new nanobarriers on metal surfaces around cracks after corrosion occurs. Furthermore, due to the micro/nanostructures of hydrophobic microspheres in the polymer coatings, the self-healing coating also exhibited good water resistance. The hydrophobic self-healing polymer coatings from the as-synthesized carboxylic acid- and fluorine-containing nanocontainers for anticorrosion were analyzed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).