Graphene-enabled anti-corrosion coating

1. A graphene-based aqueous coating suspension comprising multiple graphene sheets, particles of an anti-corrosive pigment or sacrificial metal, and a waterborne binder resin dissolved or dispersed in water, wherein said multiple graphene sheets contain single-layer or few-layer graphene sheets selected from a pristine graphene material having essentially zero % of non-carbon elements, or a non-pristine graphene material having 0.001% to 47% by weight of non-carbon elements wherein said non-pristine graphene is selected from graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof and wherein said coating suspension does not contain a silicate binder or microspheres dispersed therein and wherein said graphene sheets have a weight fraction from 0.1% to 30% based on the total coating suspension weight excluding water, wherein said waterborne binder resin contains a waterborne thermoset resin selected from water-soluble or dispersible phenolic resin;

wherein the suspension further includes an electron-conducting polymer selected from the group consisting of polydiacetylene, polyacetylene (PAc), polyisothionaphthene (PITN), poly-p-phenylene (PpP), polyphthalocyanine (PPhc), and their derivatives, and combinations thereof.

2. The coating suspension of claim 1 , wherein said non-pristine graphene material has 1% to 30% by weight of non-carbon elements selected from O, H, N, F, Cl, Br, I, B, P, or a combination thereof.

3. The coating suspension of claim 1 , further comprising a carrier, filler, dispersant, surfactant, defoaming agent, catalyst, accelerator, stabilizer, coalescing agent, thixothropic agent, anti-settling agent, color dye, a coupling agent, an extender, a conductive pigment, or a combination thereof.

4. The coating suspension of claim 3 , wherein said conductive pigment is selected from acetylene black, carbon black, expanded graphite flake, carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, mica coated with antimony-doped tin oxide or indium tin oxide, or a mixture thereof.

5. The coating suspension of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene comprises graphene sheets having a chemical functional group selected from alkyl or aryl silane, alkyl or aralkyl group, hydroxyl group, carboxyl group, amine group, sulfonate group (—SO 3 H), aldehydic group, quinoidal, fluorocarbon, or a combination thereof.

6. The coating suspension of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene comprises graphene sheets having a chemical functional group selected from a derivative of an azide compound selected from the group consisting of 2-azidoethanol, 3-azidopropan-1-amine, 4-(2-azidoethoxy)-4-oxobutanoic acid, 2-azidoethyl-2-bromo-2-methylpropanoate, chlorocarbonate, azidocarbonate, dichlorocarbene, carbene, aryne, nitrene, (R-)-oxycarbonyl nitrenes, where R=any one of the following groups,

and combinations thereof.

7. The coating suspension of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene comprises graphene sheets having a chemical functional group selected from an oxygenated group selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl, peroxide, ether, keto, and aldehyde.

8. The coating suspension of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene comprises graphene sheets having a chemical functional group selected from the group consisting of SO 3 H, COOH, NH 2 , OH, R′CHOH, CHO, CN, COCl, halide, COSH, SH, COOR′, SR, SiR′ 3 , Si(—OR′—) y R′ 3 -y, Si(—O—SiR′ 2 —)OR′, R″, Li, AlR′ 2 , Hg—X, TlZ 2 and Mg—X; wherein y is an integer equal to or less than 3, R′ is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, or aralkyl, cycloaryl, or poly(alkylether), R″ is fluoroalkyl, fluoroaryl, fluorocycloalkyl, fluoroaralkyl or cycloaryl, X is halide, and Z is carboxylate or trifluoroacetate, and combinations thereof.

9. The coating suspension of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene comprises graphene sheets having a chemical functional group selected from the group consisting of amidoamines, polyamides, aliphatic amines, modified aliphatic amines, cycloaliphatic amines, aromatic amines, anhydrides, ketimines, diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylene-tetramine (TETA), tetraethylene-pentamine (TEPA), polyethylene polyamine, polyamine epoxy adduct, phenolic hardener, non-brominated curing agent, non-amine curatives, and combinations thereof.

10. The coating suspension of claim 1 , wherein said chemically functionalized graphene comprises graphene sheets having a chemical functional group selected from OY, NHY, O═C—OY, P═C—NR′Y, O═C—SY, O═C—Y, —CR′1-OY, N′Y or C′Y, and Y is a functional group of a protein, a peptide, an amino acid, an enzyme, an antibody, a nucleotide, an oligonucleotide, an antigen, or an enzyme substrate, enzyme inhibitor or the transition state analog of an enzyme substrate or is selected from R′—OH, R′—NR′ 2 , R′SH, R′CHO, R′CN, R′X, R′N + (R′) 3 X − , R′SiR′ 3 , R′Si(—OR′—) y R′ 3-y , R′Si(—O—SiR′ 2 —) OR′, R′—R″, R′—N—CO, (C 2 H 4 O—) w H, (—C 3 H 6 O—) w H, (—C 2 H 4 O) w —R′, (C 3 H 6 O) w —R′, R′, and w is an integer greater than one and less than 200.