Polyaniline/Graphene nanocomposite coatings on copper: Electropolymerization, characterization, and evaluation of corrosion protection performance

• Corrosion protection plays a prominent role in the modern metallic finishing industry.
• Polyaniline-graphene nanocomposite coating was direct electrosynthesized on copper.
• Nanocomposite coatings have more protective ability versus corrosion than pure polymer.

Polyaniline–graphene nanocomposite film was electrochemically deposited by cyclic voltammetry on copper electrode. The corrosion resistance of polyaniline–graphene nanocomposite covered copper substrates was estimated using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques in 5000 ppm NaCl aqueous solution at room temperature. Potentiodynamic Polarization results show that corrosion potentials shift to anodic regions in the presence of polyaniline–graphene nanocomposite compared to the blank solution. The electrochemical measurements, also, indicated that the inhibition efficiency for polyaniline-graphene nanocomposite is 98%.