Corrosion Resistant Coatings Based on Organic-Inorganic Hybrids Reinforced by Carbon Nanotubes

Composite materials can be prepared by the combination of at least two different phases, a continuous and a dispersed one. If one of these phases is on the nanometer scale, than the material is called a nanocomposite. In this context organic-inorganic hybrids stand for a new class of materials formed by two distinct compounds, the polymeric and ceramic, resulting in a crosslinked amorphous nanocomposit exhibiting different properties than the initial phases. The appropriate choice of the type and proportion of ceramic and polymeric precursor results in unique properties of the hybrid material combining processability and flexibility of polymer compounds with thermal, chemical and mechanical stability of ceramic materials. (Zheludkevich et al., 2005; Wang & Bierwagen, 2009). This allows to design specific characteristics of the material for a wide range of applications. Different forms of organic-inorganic hybrids have been intensively studied due to their interesting mechanical, optical and thermal properties (Zheludkevich et al., 2005), resulting in a number of applications such as drug delivery systems, sensors, electrical and optical devices, catalysts and protective coatings (Landry et al., 1992; Sarmento et al., 2010). Due to their inert and nontoxic nature, hybrid coatings are considered among the existing corrosion inhibitors as the most promising candidates for environmentally compliant surface protection.