Outstanding performance of flower-like NiO nanostructures in epoxied soybean oil-based polyurethane nanocomposite coatings: investigation of anticorrosion and antibacterial properties

Nowadays, nanocomposite coatings have gained much attention from both academic and industrial aspects mainly because of the outstanding properties which they can offer simultaneously. Specifically, anti-corrosion properties can make them one of the best choices to solve destructive corrosion problems. Nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles have been synthesized to create these outstanding properties in vegetable oil-based polyurethane coatings. To this end, epoxidized soyabean oil was utilized to synthesize polyol and produce polyurethane coatings, and NiO nanoparticles were incorporated into the obtained coatings. The obtained coatings were evaluated through the FTIR, H-NMR, and FESEM techniques and their performance in terms of water uptake, anticorrosion and antibacterial properties were investigated. The obtained results clearly showed that the presence of NiO nanoparticles has had an undeniable effect on the performance of the coating in protecting mild steel substrate against corrosion. Moreover, using these nanoparticles has created remarkable antibacterial properties in the coating besides improved mechanical performance compared to pure polyurethane coating.