Synthesis and characterization of epoxy-ZnO nanocomposites: investigating their optical, thermal, and electrochemical properties

In the mechanical world, many units are vulnerable to thermal degradation, UV damage, and corrosive decay. Entailing protection through an additional coating is a cost-effective method to tackle this issue. In this work, the nanocomposite is detailed with epoxy and the dopant nano ZnO, prepared via hydrothermal method is employed for researching its efficacy regarding these purposes. Synthetic polymers like epoxy ranked top for UV-Vis shielding, thermal stability, and its anticorrosive activity, even though, this work turned to restating the matrix with less toxic nano ZnO for the same purpose. The anti-corrosive nature of nanocomposite on stainless-steel rod in NaCl (3.5wt%) and H2SO4 (0.5 M) solutions is assessed with Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The charge transfer resistance (Rct) value of the sample was found to be higher for the coated rod than the uncoated for both mediums. The UV- shielding aspects of the EP/ZnO nanocomposite were investigated through UV-Visible spectroscopy. Its absorption spectra bared the improvement of UV-Vis shielding based on dopant inclusion, where the thermal stability of the pure epoxy was found to be refined when it comes to EP/ZnO nanocomposite. The TEM analysis of ZnO, X-ray diffractogram, FTIR spectra and Raman spectra of the samples add clarity to the specimens incorporated for these studies. The EP/ZnO nanocomposite is recognised as a material of merit for different applications such as corrosive resistance, thermal insulators for electronic circuits, UV-Vis protection, and other chemical industry applications.