Different polyaniline nanostructures, including nanowires, rods,
and tubes could be obtained by different polymerization methods.
However, the anticorrosion performance of polyaniline with different
nanostructures has been few reported. With the attempt to
address this problem, polyaniline was prepared through three different
ways in this study, and the morphologies and the protective
properties of the products were examined. Firstly, polyaniline with
different nanostructures was synthesized by conventional polymerization,
interfacial polymerization and direct mixed reaction
methods in sulfuric acid solutions, respectively. Secondly, these
nanostructures were detected using Fourier transform infrared
(FTIR) spectroscopy and UV–vis spectroscopy. Finally, the polyaniline
products were applied to the mild steel surface as a suspension
in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP). The anticorrosion performance
of polyaniline on mild steel was investigated in 3.5 wt.% NaCl
aqueous solution by potentiodynamic polarization curves