One-Step Method for Preparing Dispersive Tea Polyphenol/Graphene Nanosheets Enhanced with Anticorrosion Performance

• Main Authors: Youwei Guo, Guoqing Xiao, Wei Zhang, Nange Zhang, Chunling Chen, Yi Fan, Hongjie Li, Xuewei Liu, Yi He
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-11-01
• Series: Coatings
• Subjects: graphene (ge); tea polyphenols (tp); one-step route; nontoxic; tp/ge/epoxy nanocomposites; anticorrosion
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/9/11/731

Water-dispersible and anticorrosion nanocomposites have attracted extensive attention. In this study, tea polyphenol (TP)/graphene (GE) was fabricated with a one-step route. The preparation and modification of graphene nanosheets was carried out by graphene employing tea polyphenols as reduction and functionalization reagents. Our study adopted a nontoxic reductant without an extra functionalization reagent. This method is convenient, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly. The final functionalized graphene nanosheets had a single-layer structure. For evaluating performance, Raman spectroscopy was adapted for evaluating π–π interactions between TP and graphene. Elemental and structural composition was analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Sample morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results indicated that the TP could effectively augment the dispersive performance of graphene in the solution. The durable anticorrosion capacity of the epoxy matrix noticeably increased after adding the appropriate amount of tea polyphenols–graphene (TPG) (0.3 wt.%). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies showed that the impedance of artificial defects was enhanced. The anticorrosion property was attributed to the uniform dispersion of graphene by adding TP.