Cellulose nanofibers reinforced carboxylated nitrile butadiene rubber coatings for improved corrosion protection of mild steel

Panpan Yue; Yiqianru Zhang; Zain Ullah; Min Zhang; Ting Zhao; Peng Liu; Feng Peng; Liuqing Yang

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.139472

Cellulose nanofibers reinforced carboxylated nitrile butadiene rubber coatings for improved corrosion protection of mild steel

Int J Biol Macromol. 2025 Jan 3:296:139472. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.139472. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Panpan Yue¹, Yiqianru Zhang¹, Zain Ullah¹, Min Zhang¹, Ting Zhao¹, Peng Liu¹, Feng Peng², Liuqing Yang³

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Rd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China.
² Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, MOE Engineering Research Center of Forestry Biomass Materials and Bioenergy, College of Materials Science and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: fengpeng@bjfu.edu.cn.
³ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Rd., Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China. Electronic address: yangliuqing@ujs.edu.cn.

PMID: 39755306
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.139472

Abstract

The development of an efficient coating with comprehensive antimicrobial and anticorrosion properties for metals is crucial. The present study used a one-pot strategy to fabricate a high-performance nanocomposite coating of carboxylated nitrile butadiene rubber/cellulose nanofibers/zinc oxide (XNBR/CNF-ZnO), demonstrating excellent potential for application in the protection against metal corrosion. Eco-friendly CNF-ZnO nanomaterials, prepared using the in-situ generation method, were used as reinforcing fillers, while XNBR was used as the matrix material. The incorporation of CNF-ZnO nanofillers notably increased the crosslink density of the composites, and thus significantly improved the interfacial compatibility between the XNBR matrix and the nanofillers. Also, the XNBR/CNF-ZnO composites exhibited significant improvements in solvent resistance, abrasion resistance, antimicrobial properties, and metal anticorrosion properties. We further elucidated the mechanism of interaction between the matrix and the nanofillers as well as the corresponding performance enhancement mechanism. This study presents a novel approach for developing multifunctional anticorrosive coatings, which holds significant potential for advancing research in metal corrosion protection.

Keywords: Anticorrosion coating; Carboxylated nitrile butadiene rubber; Cellulose nanofibers.