Triethanolamine modified graphene oxide for epoxy resin‐based coatings: Corrosion inhibition on metal substrates

Graphene oxide is an ideal nanofiller for epoxy resins because of its excellent mechanical properties, high thermal resistance, and abundant oxygen‐containing functional groups. However, the poor dispersion of graphene oxide in epoxy resins restricts its application in corrosive environments. In this study, epoxy coating was prepared by incorporating triethanolamine (TEA)‐modified graphene oxide (TEA‐GO‐EP). TEA acted as a modification agent for graphene oxide to improve its dispersion in epoxy and corrosion inhibitor for the underlying copper substrate. The long‐term potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results demonstrated the improved anti‐corrosion performance of the TEA‐GO‐EP coatings in 3.5 wt.% NaCl aqueous solution, compared with the coatings without TEA. Moreover, the anti‐corrosion mechanism was discussed in detail. The findings reported in this paper have important implications for developing new types of eco‐friendly epoxy‐based coatings.