TAGS: Smart Coatings Plastic Coatings Sustainability / Natural Coatings Industrial Coatings
Researchers find a sustainable way to develop a polymer surface coating to remove mercury from water – while providing a wide range of protection including for preventing metal corrosion and solvent damage of plastic PVC pipes.
Coating Repairs by Simple Heating Process
The smart coating, made from low-cost waste chemicals from oil refining and other sources, also can prevent acid and water damage of concrete surfaces and be repaired in-situ by a simple heating process, says Flinders University project leader Max Mann.
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Made easily from elemental sulfur and dicyclopentadiene (DCPD is a by-product of petroleum refining), this new coating is multi-functional which gives us wide scope to use it in a wide range of useful ways and for longer lasting industrial products and components,” says Flinders University PhD candidate Mr Mann.
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This exciting new area of research extends fundamental chemistry to several practical applications.”
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The method for making the coating is safer than methods previously used for related coatings. The team developed a lower temperature process that prevented runaway reactions,” adds co-author University of Liverpool researcher Dr Bowen Zhang.
Along with its protective powers against corrosion, solvent damage and acid and water damage, the research found the active coating can capture toxic metals such as mercury.
The coating is repairable and scratches and damage can be prepared by the simple application of heat, the Flinders-Liverpool team found.
This process is possible because of the coating’s chemical structure which allows sulfur-sulfur bonds to be broken and re-formed.
Major Step toward Multi-functional Coatings
Flinders University chemistry Professor Justin Chalker says the research is a significant step forward in multi-functional coatings.
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The unique chemical composition of the smart coating enables protection of substrates, active removal of toxic mercury species from water and oil, and is repairable which ensures its sustainability,” says Matthew Flinders Professor Chalker, from the Institute of Nanoscale Science and Technology at Flinders University.
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The coating is solvent resistant and can also remove mercury from oil and water mixtures, which is of importance to remediation in the petroleum and gas industry.”
Check-out Corrosion Inhibitors for Industrial Maintenance
Source: Flinders University