The effects of cinnamon, ginger and sesame oils on in-situ solvothermal reduction of multi-layered graphene oxide in epoxy to improve hydrophobicity and corrosion resistance

Abstract

An effective and green method including in-situ solvothermal reduction of multi-layered graphene oxide (MLGO) using a mixture of acetonitrile and sesame, ginger and cinnamon oils, was investigated for preparing a hydrophobic and corrosion-resistant epoxy coating. The efficiencies of the oils as green reducing agents with synergistic effect by acetonitrile in the solvothermal reduction of MLGO at a temperature of 70 °C were compared with each other. FT-IR, TGA, Raman, and Mapping-EDAX analysis showed that the solvothermal reduction process of MLGO in acetonitrile/cinnamon oil mixture was successfully performed. The results of long-term salt spray and electrochemical impedance tests showed that epoxy-RMLGO (acetonitrile/cinnamon oil) nano-coating had a significant improvement in corrosion resistance (after10 months, the impedance value was 8.1 × 10⁸ Ω cm²) compared with the other coatings. Also, the value of the water contact angle for the nano-coating was 102.80° and based on Mapping-EDAX analysis, the C/O ratio was 54.45.

Graphical abstract

Keywords:

• Multi-layered graphene oxide
• in-situ solvothermal reduction
• acetonitrile
• cinnamon oil
• corrosion resistance
• hydrophobicity

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the University of Guilan for providing financial support for carrying out this research work.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the University of Guilan for providing financial support for carrying out this research work.