Interview||Liu Liwei: Graphene opens up new market opportunities for high-performance coatings

Liu Liwei Chairman
Suzhou Grefeng Nanotechnology Co., Ltd.
Profile
Liu Liwei, Researcher, Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology and Nanobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Doctoral Mentor; Advisory member of the Supervision and Inspection Center, Vice Chairman of the Strategic Alliance for Technological Innovation of the Graphene Industry in Jiangsu Province, Member of the Standard Committee of the China Graphene Industry Alliance, member of the Working Group on Thin-layer Graphite Materials of the Carbon Materials Sub-Technical Committee of the National Steel Standardization Technical Committee, member of the Advisory Committee of Experts on Strategic Emerging Industries in Changzhou City, and member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nature Publishing Group Scifientic Reports. Participated in the drafting of the "Graphene Zinc Powder Coatings" industry standard and CSTM group standard "Measurement of graphene materials in coatings." He received his Ph.D. in Condensed State Physics from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005

. Postdoctoral degree, Center for Nanotechnology, University of Central Florida, USA, 2006-2007. In 2007, as the backbone of scientific research was introduced to the Suzhou Nanotechnology and Nano Bionic Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and obtained the leading nano-talents of Suzhou Industrial Park. In August 2012, Suzhou Grifeng Nanotechnology Co., Ltd. (SZGraphene) was founded. Grefeng has become a leader in high-quality thin-layer graphene, has been a number of international and domestic well-known anti-corrosion coating enterprises suppliers. Has applied for more than 40 national invention patents, authorized 12. He presided over the completion of key projects in the national natural sciences, fund projects, industrial support projects in Jiangsu Province, nano-pilot projects in Suzhou City, and participated in projects such as 973 of the Ministry of Science and Technology, key deployment projects of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and nano-manufacturing of major research projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Already in Adv. Mater., Adv. Func. Mater., ACS nano, Scientific Reports, Phys. Rev. B, Appl. Phys. Lett., Small., Nano Lett., Carbon and other international high-quality journals published the results of their work.
The application of new materials helps promote the innovation and development of the coating industry, graphene in improving the performance and function of coatings has an important application, after many years of technology and application development, graphene used in the field of coatings, the current situation and development trends?
material refers to new or traditional materials with excellent performance or new functions after improvement, the use of new materials is an important basis for high-quality development and transformation and upgrading of the coatings industry. Graphene technology transformation and coating enterprise transformation and upgrading to form a historic convergence, for the high-quality development of the coating industry has brought new market opportunities.
China's paint industry after more than 100 years of development, has more than 300 billion market size. From the policy and regulations, standards, international competition, industry trends and other aspects, the paint industry from the previous high-speed development into the innovation-driven, green transformation, resource conservation, high-performance high-quality development stage.
high-quality thin layer graphene material, thickness is only a few atomic layers, all atoms, molecules are impermeable, compared with traditional materials, the same mass, with a larger layer barrier area. Graphene has excellent mechanical, conductive, thermal conductivity, in the coating to achieve uniform dispersion, high-quality thin layer graphene can be used as anti-corrosion, waterproof, weather-resistant, mechanical performance-enhancing atomic layer barrier raw materials, is providing more excellent performance and more functional coatings to provide important value.
graphene has been in development for 16 years since it was discovered by British researchers in 2004, and has under been through the necessary process of research and development, verification, industrial amplification and long market development cycles in the new materials industry. Graphene materials were selected in the Strategic Emerging Industries Classification (2018) published by the National Bureau of Statistics. Graphene modified anti-corrosion coatings were selected as cutting-edge new materials for use in bridges, steel structures, pipes, storage tanks and automobiles in the "Demonstration Guide Directory for the First Application of Key New Materials" (2019 edition) published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Around 2012, U.S. researchers carried out basic research on the corrosion resistance of graphene directly covering metals, but in the process of product development and industrialization of real coatings, China's graphene large-scale manufacturing, graphene materials in anti-corrosion coating applications are in the international leading position. China's high-quality graphene manufacturing enterprises, as well as innovative awareness of domestic and foreign paint enterprises have played a leading role. In the process of industrialization promotion, we have experienced the process of questioning, waiting and trying to promote the change of understanding.
with the joint efforts of many employees, enterprises and institutions for many years, the application of graphene in the coatings industry has formed a new and innovative development trend, which comes from technological change and the value and power of industrial development. With many years of joint efforts by policy-making departments, research institutes, industry experts, investment institutions, numerous graphene, coatings and user enterprises, as well as standards and design institutions, research and development, verification, scale production, products, standards, cases and markets have made progress and gained.
industry standard for graphene zinc powder coatings (HG/T 5573-2019), which took more than three years to approve, was implemented on July 1, 2020, involving up to 35 companies. At present, there have been many engineering construction anti-corrosion system requires high-performance graphene-based anti-corrosion coatings, some design institutes began the introduction of graphene-based high-performance coatings, and some have adopted group standards and has been carried out for several years of graphene anti-corrosion coatings engineering applications. At home and abroad with innovative awareness and ability of some well-known coating enterprises, after many years of research and development, testing and trial production, more high-performance graphene zinc powder coating products will be promoted to market.
graphene-based high-performance coating industrialization has entered a rapid development stage. Domestic and foreign enterprises with research and development strength have almost all laid out graphene-related coating product development, graphene-based solvent-based, water-based, powder and other coating products have also started to market. Some coatings companies add new production lines and consider using high-performance graphene-related coatings directly as a strategic direction for enterprise development. "Road bridge steel structure anti-corrosion coating technical conditions" (JT/T 722) Ministry of Transport industry standard revision draft also added high-performance graphene zinc powder coating. It can be foreseen that the future bridges, petrochemical facilities, storage tanks, rail transit, construction steel structures, offshore, wind power, automobiles, etc. will benefit from graphene modified anti-corrosion coatings long-lasting protection.
technology fusion of graphene and coatings, what advantages and market opportunities can be provided for the upgrading of industrial anti-corrosion coatings technology?
anti-corrosion coatings are widely used in large-scale industry, marine engineering, modern transportation, petroleum and petrochemical, energy industry, municipal facilities and other fields. In 2018, china's defense rotting paint production of nearly 5 million tons, the market size of more than 190 billion yuan. Foreign enterprises occupy the domestic anti-corrosion coatings in the high-end market. Domestic enterprises in the brand, technology, scale, system support and other aspects of the lack of advantages, but also in the high-end market and international well-known enterprises to compete.
Currently, graphene modified anti-corrosion primer is a cost-effective industrial coating upgrade products, its technology and standard development has been initially matured, with a larger market space, including solvent-based and water-based coatings, including organic and inorganic coatings. In addition, high-quality graphene to solve the water-based, high-solid content, solvent-free, powder-based environmental protection coating transformation encountered in a variety of technical problems, but also an important opportunity for technology and the market.
Epoxy Zinc-rich coatings are important and highly used industrial anti-corrosion primers in coatings, and according to GosReports research, the global market for epoxy-rich coatings will reach $4.4 billion in 2019, and the market is also dominated by internationally renowned coating companies. Compared with those well-known foreign enterprises with 100 years of development experience, China's industrial coatings enterprises still have a big gap, whether in the accumulation of talent, research and development input, system management, quality control and other aspects, technology accumulation and lack of core technology, so the main body of the industrial coatings market is still dominated by international enterprises, some even monopoly.
has not had a major technological breakthrough in epoxy zinc-rich coatings since they were put into use in the 1960s. In 2007, Haihong Old Man's Laboratory found that only 1/3 of zinc in zinc-rich primers played a role. In 2014, Haihong old people using hollow glass microbeads and active zinc patented technology, improve corrosion prevention and construction performance, can be counted as epoxy-rich zinc a larger technological progress. Today, graphene zinc powder coating, through the fusion of graphene technology, zinc powder dosage from the previous 80 can be reduced to 30 parts, salt spray resistance performance increased more than 3 times, and improve construction tolerance, paint film also has a very good thick film anti-cracking, inhibit corrosion spread performance, is undoubtedly 60 years of epoxy zinc-rich coating major technological breakthrough.
optimized formulation design of graphene zinc powder coating, the use of a small amount of high-quality thin layer graphene, non-volatile fractions of only 30 zinc powder, neutral salt spray resistance is exceptionally excellent, can be up to 3000 to 6000 h (single coating, scratches, 90 m film thickness within ), the salt spray resistance time exceeds the C5 environmental requirements defined by ISO 12944 by more than 3 times that of the Graphene Zinc Powder Coatings (HG/T5573-2019) and zinc-rich primers (HG/T 3668-2009). Its performance is comparable or exceeded by these traditional anti-corrosion primers, such as organic epoxy-rich primer, inorganic epoxy zinc-rich primer, and cold-sprayed zinc, which contains a large amount of zinc powder.
, graphene high-performance coatings have been in the bridge, rail transit, petrochemical, wind power, offshore, construction steel structure and other fields of penetration and application. With graphene preparation, coating product development and market applications, industrial chain gradually mature, will form a graphene modified coatings as an upgraded product market trend. In this process of upgrading and development, enterprises with innovative awareness, technical capabilities and market resources will be the first to seize this new market opportunity.
the "Graphene Zinc Powder Coatings" industry standard, graphene zinc-containing coatings can be as low as 30% of the metal zinc content, can greatly save zinc metal resources. Should the traditional concept of "higher zinc content, better corrosion resistance" be changed?
traditional zinc powder consumption concept, "rich zinc" means good corrosion resistance, "low zinc" means "stealing material", with the emergence of zinc-containing graphene coatings, these understandings can be changed. With graphene and a small amount of zinc powder to achieve excellent anti-corrosion performance, anti-corrosion performance is not proportional to the amount of zinc powder, there is no need to waste zinc powder in the future.
In epoxy zinc-rich primer, due to the need for a large number of zinc powder to form an electrochemical conductive path, to ensure corrosion resistance, the requirements of non-volatile components of the metal zinc dosing more, respectively, 60%, 70%, 80% (HG/T3668-2009). The content of zinc powder in epoxy-rich zinc coating determines cost and performance. In graphene zinc powder coating, conductive route a small amount of graphene and a small amount of zinc powder together, and graphene excellent layer barrier synergy, the use of a small amount of zinc powder can reflect very good corrosion resistance. In fact, the higher the zinc content in graphene zinc powder coatings, the better.
reserves on Earth are limited, are depleted resources, and half of the total consumption is used for metal corrosion protection. According to USGS research, global zinc reserves will be 220 million tons in 2019, zinc consumption will be 13.76 million tons, and the world's zinc mines will last only 16 years. China's zinc production in 2019 will be 4.3 million tons, while China's zinc reserves of 44 million tons, only enough for China to use for no more than 10 years, and China's zinc mining areas scattered, mining and transportation difficulties. Therefore, the price of zinc powder is gradually rising. This also determines the life duration of a large number of anti-corrosion products using zinc powder, such as hot galvanizing, epoxy-rich zinc, inorganic zinc-rich, cold-sprayed zinc and other products.
"Graphene zinc powder coating" is the first C2-C5 atmospheric corrosion grade environment, zinc powder dosing can be as low as 30% of the high-performance epoxy zinc powder coating industry standards, in promoting high-performance coatings, resource-saving development is a milestone. The promotion and replacement of graphene zinc powder coating products will save resources, improve cost-effectiveness and promote sustainable development of the industry.
addition to graphene zinc powder coatings, does graphene also have the advantage of improving corrosion resistance for zinc-free coatings? Is it valuable for improving the performance of environmentally friendly types of coatings and reducing VOCs?
graphene enhances corrosion protection even in ordinary rust-proof paints that do not contain zinc powder. By optimizing the use of high-quality thin layer graphene, some products have been able to improve their salt spray resistance by 100%.
can also help improve corrosion resistance and construction performance for environmentally friendly (water-based, solvent-free, powder-free) coatings.
For automotive axle bottoms combined paint (water-based, solvent-based), water-based automotive electrophoresis paint, construction machinery and rail transit water-based rust-proof primers, graphene modified use, there have been cases show that salt spray resistance performance increased by nearly 100%.
For environmentally friendly water-based coatings, graphene can play an important role in improving the performance of salt-resistant spray, condensation and so on, and solve the problem of water-based industrial coatings corrosion-resistant short plate for powder coatings, through the use of graphene, can enhance its ability to use in C5 environment.
for solvent-free, high-solid coatings, in addition to improving salt spray resistance, but also to enhance its cracking resistance. In terms of reducing VOCs, reduce VOCs emissions by improving coating performance by using high-quality thin layer graphene, reducing paint usage, and reducing the number of coatings resoarsed or repaired.
taking into account the high electrode capacitance of carbon materials, defective graphene in direct contact with metals, as well as graphite, carbon black fillers conductive paint and metal composition of the original battery caused corrosion. Will there be accelerated corrosion in graphene zinc powder coating applications? And is there accelerated corrosion after zinc powder is exhausted?
graphene zinc powder coating is different from the structure and principle of the two cases. In a reasonably formulated graphene zinc powder coating, there is no problem of accelerated corrosion. Because accelerated corrosion requires two prerequisites, the corrosion medium penetrates into the steel interface and graphene is in contact with the steel through electrolytes. In graphene zinc powder coating, graphene addition is very small, only a few thousandths of the dry film, graphene in the resin substrate is far from reaching the on-over-penetration threshold, graphene is covered by epoxy resin and then contact with other materials.
addition, the addition of graphene, greatly increased the corrosion media of the paint film penetration of the barrier effect, from the salt spray test, compared with the visible, zinc-rich epoxy, cold zinc spray these high zinc powder content coating,