Marine paint fomulations:: Conducting polymers as anticorrosive additives

Within coating technology, there is increasing interest in the development of efficient anticorrosive additives able to replace the conventional inorganic anticorrosive pigments usually added to paints, which may have detrimental effects on both environment and health. A number of recent studies have evidenced that the modification of a paint formulation by the addition of a low concentration of conducting polymer (0.2-0.3%, w/w) increases significantly the protective properties of the coating. Here we focus on the principles of anticorrosive additives based on conducting polymers for marine paints. The article reviews the most important findings achieved in recent studies. The relevant factors that are determinant for the anticorrosive protection imparted by conducting polymers, as the doping level, the miscibility with paint, the electrochemical stability, etc., are discussed in detail. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.