Incorporation of organic/inorganic materials into polypyrrole matrix to reinforce its anticorrosive properties for the protection of steel alloys: A review

The utilization of conducting polymers for anticorrosion purposes has attracted much attention during the last decade. Polypyrrole (PPy) is the most extensively used conducting polymer for the mitigation of corrosion. The anticorrosive ability of PPy can be enhanced through insertion of some organic and inorganic materials into its structure. On this basis, the way that incorporation of additives into the PPy network can improve the anticorrosion nature of the coated steel substrates is the main subject of this review. The PPy composites are either electrodeposited on the surface or added to epoxy coatings to formulate an efficient protective system. The electrochemical techniques used for the synthesis of the PPy composites along with their chemical preparation are reviewed here. Furthermore, the corrosion behaviors of the steel substrates coated by pure PPy and by various PPy composites are compared and discussed based on the results obtained from corrosion tests.