Important noteTo cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). Please check the document version above. CopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons. Takedown policyPlease contact us and provide details if you believe this document breaches copyrights. We will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. AbstractThis work introduces a new self-healing superhydrophobic coating based on dual actions by the corrosion inhibitor benzotriazole (BTA) and an epoxy-based shape memory polymer (SMP). Damage to the surface morphology (e.g., crushed areas and scratches) and the corresponding superhydrophobicity is shown to be rapidly healed through a simple heat treatment at 60 °C for 20 min. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) were used to study the anti-corrosion performance of the scratched and the healed superhydrophobic coatings immersed in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. The results revealed that the anti-corrosion performance of the scratched coatings was improved upon the incorporation of BTA. After the heat treatment, the scratched superhydrophobic coatings exhibited excellent recovery of the anti-corrosion performance, which is attributed to the closure of the scratch by the shape memory effect and to the improved inhibition efficiency of BTA. Furthermore, we found that the pre-existing corrosion product inside the coating scratch could hinder the scratch closure by the shape memory effect and reduce the coating adhesion in the scratched region. However, the addition of BTA effectively suppressed the formation of corrosion product and enhanced the self-healing and adhesion performance under this condition. Importantly, we also demonstrated that the coating can be autonomously healed within 1 h in an outdoor environment using sunlight as the heat source.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Microbial corrosion of iron-based materials is a substantial economic problem. A mechanistic understanding is required to develop mitigation strategies, but previous mechanistic studies have been limited to investigations with relatively pure Fe(0), which is not a common structural material. We report here that the mechanism for microbial corrosion of stainless steel, the metal of choice for many actual applications, can be significantly different from that for Fe(0). Although H2 is often an intermediary electron carrier between the metal and microbes during Fe(0) corrosion, we found that H2 is not abiotically produced from stainless steel, making this corrosion mechanism unlikely. Geobacter sulfurreducens and Geobacter metallireducens, electrotrophs that are known to directly accept electrons from other microbes or electrodes, extracted electrons from stainless steel via direct iron-to-microbe electron transfer. Genetic modification to prevent H2 consumption did not negatively impact on stainless steel corrosion. Corrosion was inhibited when genes for outer-surface cytochromes that are key electrical contacts were deleted. These results indicate that a common model of microbial Fe(0) corrosion by hydrogenase-positive microbes, in which H2 serves as an intermediary electron carrier between the metal surface and the microbe, may not apply to the microbial corrosion of stainless steel. However, direct iron-to-microbe electron transfer is a feasible route for stainless steel corrosion.

No abstract

No abstract