Nanoparticle-based anticorrosion coatings for molten salts applications

High-temperature molten salt systems are employed in a wide variety of industrial applications, linked to energy production and storage, such as concentrated solar power, waste heat recovery, storage plants, fuel cells nuclear, etc. The reactivity of these salts is one of the main issues to address for the employment of affordable steels as constructive materials. In this work, the performance of a polymeric anticorrosion coating based on nanoparticles is analyzed for carbon and stainless steel subjected to solar salt, at 390 and 565 degrees C, respectively.The application of the protective coating produced a more homogeneous corrosion layer in both steels compared to uncoated samples. For carbon steel, the spallation of the corrosion layer was mitigated. For stainless steel, the corrosion was significantly reduced. The was confirmed by SEM-EDX confirmed the inclusion of alumina nanoparticles into the corrosion scale and their reaction with stainless steel to form mixed oxides was corroborated by XRD. Molten salts were analyzed by ICP. The obtained results pave the way for anticorrosion coatings based on nanoparticles for high temperature molten salts applications.