Corrosion Resistance of Sulfur-Selenium Alloy Coatings

TL;DR

This study introduces a sulfur-selenium alloy coating that provides nearly complete corrosion protection for steel across various environments, combining high mechanical performance with antimicrobial properties.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel lightweight S-Se alloy coating with exceptional corrosion resistance, mechanical robustness, and antimicrobial features, suitable for diverse environmental conditions.

Findings

Achieves ~99.9% protection efficiency against corrosion.

Reduces corrosion rate by 6-7 orders of magnitude compared to bare steel.

Exhibits strong adhesion, mechanical robustness, and antimicrobial properties.

Abstract

Despite decades of research, metallic corrosion remains a long-standing challenge in many engineering applications. Specifically, designing a material that can resist corrosion both in abiotic as well as biotic environments remains elusive. Here we design a lightweight sulfur-selenium (S-Se) alloy with high stiffness and ductility that can serve as a universal corrosion-resistant coating with protection efficiency of ~99.9% for steel in a wide range of diverse environments. S-Se coated mild steel shows a corrosion rate that is 6-7 orders of magnitude lower than bare metal in abiotic (simulated seawater and sodium sulfate solution) and biotic (sulfate-reducing bacterial medium) environments. The coating is strongly adhesive and mechanically robust. We attribute the high corrosion resistance of the alloy in diverse environments to its semi-crystalline, non-porous, anti-microbial, and viscoelastic nature with superior mechanical performance, enabling it to successfully block a variety of diffusing species.