The Protection and Degradation Behaviors of Mercapto Functional Sol-Gel Coating on Copper Surface

Experimental results have revealed that mercapto functional sol-gel (MFS) coating can provide good protection for copper. However, information on the degradation behavior of MFS coating still limits in the literature and therefore needs further investigation. In this report, the protection and degradation behavior of MFS coating on copper in NaCl solution was studied by various methods. Electrochemical methods and salt spray test show that MFS coating can provide good protection for copper and its performance depends on coating thickness. XPS results show MFS coating degradation in NaCl solution can be ascribed to mercapto groups oxidation and Si-O-Si bonds hydrolysis.