Anti-corrosion material-coated discrete graphene sheets and anti-corrosion coating composition containing same

1. A graphene-based coating suspension comprising multiple graphene sheets each having two opposed parallel surfaces, thin film coating having a thickness from 0.5 nm to 100 nm of an anti-corrosive pigment or sacrificial metal coated on and covering at least 50% area of one of said two parallel surfaces, and a binder resin dissolved or dispersed in a liquid medium, 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 graphene sheets have a weight fraction from 0.1% to 30% based on the total coating suspension weight excluding the liquid medium, wherein said anti-corrosive pigment or sacrificial metal is selected from zinc phosphate;

wherein said binder resin contains a resin selected from urethane-urea resin, acrylic alkyd resin, polyimide, thermoset polyester, vinyl ester resin, silicate adhesive, or a combination thereof.

2. The coating suspension of claim 1 , wherein said anti-corrosive pigment or sacrificial metal covers at least 80% area of one of said parallel surfaces.

3. 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.

4. The coating suspension of claim 1 , 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.

11. An object or structure coated at least in part with a coating comprising multiple graphene sheets, thin coating of an anti-corrosive pigment or sacrificial metal deposited on graphene surfaces, and a binder resin that bonds said coated graphene sheets together and to a surface of said object or structure, 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 graphene sheets have a weight fraction from 0.1% to 30% based on the total coating weight, wherein said anti-corrosive pigment or sacrificial metal is selected from zinc phosphate; and wherein said binder resin contains a resin selected from polyimide, thermoset polyester, vinyl ester resin, silicate adhesive, or a combination thereof.

12. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said coating has a thickness from 1 nm to 1.0 mm.

13. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said object or structure is metallic.

14. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said binder resin includes an ester resin, a neopentyl glycol (NPG), ethylene glycol (EG), isophthalic acid, a terephthalic acid, a urethane resin, a urethane ester resin, an acrylic resin, an acrylic urethane resin, or a combination thereof.

15. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said binder resin contains a curing agent and/or a coupling agent in an amount of 1 to 30 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the binder resin.

16. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said binder resin contains a thermally curable resin containing a polyfunctional epoxy monomer selected from diglycerol tetraglycidyl ether, dipentaerythritol tetraglycidyl ether, sorbitol polyglycidyl ether, polyglycerol polyglycidyl ether, pentaerythritol polyglycidyl ether, or a combination thereof.

17. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said binder resin contains a thermally curable resin containing a bi- or tri-functional epoxy monomer selected from the group consisting of trimethylolethane triglycidyl ether, trimethylolmethane triglycidyl ether, trimethylolpropane triglycidyl ether, triphenylolmethane triglycidyl ether, trisphenol triglycidyl ether, tetraphenylol ethane triglycidyl ether, tetraglycidyl ether of tetraphenylol ethane, p-aminophenol triglycidyl ether, 1,2,6-hexanetriol triglycidyl ether, glycerol triglycidyl ether, diglycerol triglycidyl ether, glycerol ethoxylate triglycidyl ether, castor oil triglycidyl ether, propoxylated glycerine triglycidyl ether, ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether, 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether, neopentyl glycol diglycidyl ether, cyclohexanedimethanol diglycidyl ether, dipropylene glycol diglycidyl ether, polypropylene glycol diglycidyl ether, dibromoneopentyl glycol diglycidyl ether, hydrogenated bisphenol A diglycidyl ether, (3,4-epoxycyclohexane) methyl 3,4-epoxycylohexylcarboxylate, and mixtures thereof.

18. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said binder resin contains an UV radiation curable resin or lacquer selected from acrylate and methacrylate oligomers, (meth)acrylate (acrylate and methacrylate), polyhydric alcohols and their derivatives having (meth)acrylate functional groups, including ethoxylated trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, tripropylene glycol di(meth)acrylate, trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, diethylene glycol di(meth)acrylate, pentaerythritol tetra(meth)acrylate, pentaerythritol tri(meth)acrylate, dipentaerythritol hexa(meth)acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol di(meth)acrylate, or neopentyl glycol di(meth)acrylate and mixtures thereof, and acrylate and methacrylate oligomers derived from low-molecular weight polyester resin, polyether resin, epoxy resin, polyurethane resin, alkyd resin, spiroacetal resin, epoxy acrylates, polybutadiene resin, and polythiol-polyene resin.

19. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said object or structure is a metallic reinforcing material or member.

20. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said object or structure is a concrete structure.

21. The object or structure of claim 11 , wherein said object or structure is a bridge.