Remarkably Corrosion Resistant Graphene Coating on Steel Enabled Through Metallurgical Tailoring.

Graphene coatings developed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) that possess extraordinary/unique characteristics as barrier against aggressive environment can improve the corrosion resistance of Ni and Cu by up to two orders of magnitude. However, because of some compelling technical reasons, it has thus far been a nontrivial challenge to develop graphene coatings on the most commonly used engineering alloy, mild steel (MS). To circumvent the challenge simply by first electroplating MS with a Ni layer is attempted, and then developing CVD graphene over the Ni layer. However, this approach proved too simplistic and does not work. This necessitated an innovative surface modification of MS (based on basic metallurgical principles) that enabled successful CVD of graphene coating on MS. The graphene coating thus developed is demonstrated to improve the corrosion resistance of mild steel by two orders of magnitude in an aggressive chloride solution, through electrochemical testing. This improvement was not only sustained for the entire test duration of >1000 h; but there is a clear trend for the resistance to be possibly everlasting. The optimized surface modification that enabled development of CVD graphene coating on mild steel is generic in nature, and it should enable graphene coating on other alloy systems, which would otherwise not be possible.

Influence of bovine serum albumin in Hanks' solution on the corrosion and stress corrosion cracking of a magnesium alloy.

It is essential for any temporary implant to possess adequate strength to maintain their mechanical integrity under the synergistic effects of mechanical loading characteristics of human body and the corrosive physiological environment. Such synergistic effects can cause stress corrosion cracking (SCC). The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of the addition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to Hanks' solution in corrosion and SCC susceptibility of AZ91D magnesium alloy. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results indicated that the addition of BSA increased corrosion resistance of the alloy during the first 48h of immersion and then decreased it rapidly. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses indicated adsorption of BSA on the alloy surface during initial hours of immersion. However, with the increasing immersion time, BSA chelated with the corrosion products causing disruption of the protective film; thus, it accelerated the corrosion of the alloy. Both the mechanical data and fractographic evidence have confirmed susceptibility of the alloy to SCC. However, in the presence of BSA, the alloy suffered greater SCC which was attributed to its increased susceptibility towards localized corrosion.

Large-area graphene-based nanofiltration membranes by shear alignment of discotic nematic liquid crystals of graphene oxide.

Graphene-based membranes demonstrating ultrafast water transport, precise molecular sieving of gas and solvated molecules shows great promise as novel separation platforms; however, scale-up of these membranes to large-areas remains an unresolved problem. Here we demonstrate that the discotic nematic phase of graphene oxide (GO) can be shear aligned to form highly ordered, continuous, thin films of multi-layered GO on a support membrane by an industrially adaptable method to produce large-area membranes (13 × 14 cm(2)) in <5 s. Pressure driven transport data demonstrate high retention (>90%) for charged and uncharged organic probe molecules with a hydrated radius above 5 Å as well as modest (30-40%) retention of monovalent and divalent salts. The highly ordered graphene sheets in the plane of the membrane make organized channels and enhance the permeability (71 ± 5 l m(-2) hr(-1) bar(-1) for 150 ± 15 nm thick membranes).

Electrochemical capacitance of Ni-doped metal organic framework and reduced graphene oxide composites: more than the sum of its parts.

Composites of a Ni-doped metal organic framework (MOF) with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are synthesized in bulk (gram scale) quantities. The composites are composed of rGO sheets, which avoid restacking from the physical presence of MOF crystals. At larger concentration of rGO, the MOF crystals are distributed on the overlapping and continuous rGO sheets. Ni in Ni-doped MOF is found to engage in a two-electron, reversible, efficient, redox reaction shuttling between Ni and Ni(OH)2 in aqueous potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte. The reaction is rather unique as Ni-based supercapacitors use a one-electron transfer Faradaic redox reaction between Ni(OH)2 and NiO(OH). Employing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, we determined the charge transfer resistance to be 184 mΩ for MOF, 74 mΩ for a Ni-doped MOF and 6 mΩ for a rGO-Ni-doped MOF composite, but these modifications do not affect the mass transfer resistance. This novel redox reaction in conjunction with the lowered charge transfer resistance from the introduction of rGO underpins the synergy that dramatically increases the capacitance to 758 F/g in the rGO-Ni-doped MOF composite, when the parent MOF could store only 100 F/g and a physical composite of rGO and Ni-doped MOF could algebraically achieve about 240 F/g. A generic approach of doping MOFs with a redox active metal and forming a composite with rGO transforms an electro-inactive MOF to high capacity energy storage material with energy density of 37.8 Wh/kg at a power density of 227 W/kg. These results can promote the development of high-performance energy storage materials from the wide family of MOFs available.