Laser-controllable coatings for corrosion protection

We introduce a novel and versatile approach to the corrosion protection by use of "smart" laser-controllable coating. The main advantage of the proposed technique is that one could terminate the corrosion process by very intensive healing after an appearance of corrosion centers using local laser irradiation. It is also shown that by applying a polyelectrolyte shell with noble metal particles over the mesoporous titania and silica via layer-by-layer assembly it is possible to fabricate micro- and nanoscaled reservoirs, which, being incorporated into the zirconia-organosilica matrix, are responsible for the ability of laser-driven release of the loaded materials (e.g., corrosion inhibitor). Furthermore, the resultant films are highly adhesive and could be easily deposited onto different metallic substrates. Laser-mediated remote release of incorporated corrosion inhibitor (benzotriazole) from engineered mesoporous containers with silver nanoparticles in the container shell is observed in real time on single and multicontainer levels.