Conductive polymer coating for corrosion protection of steel

There is an increasing interest in exploring the use of conductive polymers for protecting metals from corrosion. The corrosion resistance of steel coated with the conductive polymer polypheneylenevinylene (PPV) is studied. The corrodant used is deaerated 1% w/w NaCl(aq).The PPV coating is deposited by a homemade spinning coater. The effect of substrate microstructure and surface treatment on PPV coating morphology is investigated. The morphology and surface roughness of the coating are measured by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The PPV coating thickness and substrate surface roughness are measured by profilometer.Open Circuit Potential (OCP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), linear potentiodynamic voltammetry (Tafel) and optical microscopy were used to characterize the structure and properties of the coatings. The correlation between the coating thickness, the surface treatment of the steel substrate prior to coating, and the corrosion behaviour of PPV coated steel was investigated.Under the condition of our studies, the level of pH in the solution used for corrosion testing has the strongest effect on the corrosion behaviour of PPV coated steel