Fabrication of h-BN-rGO@PDA nanohybrids for composite coatings with enhanced anticorrosion performance

Inspired by mussels’ universal adhesive ability to various substrates, polydopamine (PDA) was used to bind graphene oxide (GO) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) together to fabricate h-BN-rGO@PDA nanohybrids. The as-prepared h-BN-rGO@PDA nanohybrids were served as anticorrosive nanofillers for polyvinylbutyral (PVB) coatings on mild steel. The structure of h-BN-rGO@PDA nanohybrids were characterized by SEM, XRD, FT-IR, UV–vis and Raman spectroscopies. Electrochemical corrosion tests were conducted to examine the anticorrosion properties of h-BN-rGO@PDA/PVB composite coatings. The results show that the stacked h-BN nanosheets are exfoliated by GO. And PDA is successfully grafted onto the surface of h-BN-rGO@PDA and simultaneously reduced GO into rGO. The h-BN-rGO@PDA nanohybrids are homogeneously distributed in the PVB matrix. When the mass ratio of GO to h-BN in h-BN-rGO@PDA is 1:1, the as-prepared h-BN-rGO@PDA possesses effective aspect ratio and thus its PVB composite coating obtains the optimal anticorrosion performance with 2 orders of magnitude higher than pure PVB.