Monodisperse Ag@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles as active inhibitors for marine anticorrosion applications

Monodisperse Ag@SiO2 core-shell structured nanoparticles were firstly utilized as a novel corrosion inhibitor for marine anticorrosion applications. The related marine anticorrosion properties were evaluated with an electrochemical noise (ECN) analysis during 2 weeks of accelerated immersion tests in natural seawater with the addition of various inorganic salts and nutriments. The experimental results indicate that the corrosion activity is markedly reduced by nearly 1-3 orders of magnitude owing to the introduction of Ag@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles into coating. The inhibition efficiency of corrosion can reach as high as about 99%. More importantly, such a coating exhibits an excellent long-term sustained marine anticorrosion effect. So it could be reasonably inferred that silver cores as active inhibitors effectively prevent the corrosion damage from microorganisms, while silica shells act as a good protection for silver nanoparticles, delay the release of silver ions, and also function as the corrosion inhibiting action for inorganic salts. Therefore, this would make monodisperse Ag@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles a potential and promising corrosion inhibitor for developing future advanced multifunctional coatings.