Liquid crystal polymers as luminescent coatings: Single-component white-light photoluminescence and corrosion inhibition

Highlights: • Some liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) have been studied as luminescent coatings. • White emission from a single material was obtained. • The luminescence color was tuned by adjusting the solution concentration. • The studied polymers showed high anticorrosion efficiency. Luminescent coatings have several exciting applications. Polymers have been reported as both corrosion inhibitors and luminescent materials. Mild steel corrosion is a major economic problem. Moreover, full-color luminescence from one material is a hot research topic due to the advantages of such materials. Here, some liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) have been checked as corrosion inhibitors of mild steel in an acidic medium (1.0 M H₂SO₄) through potentiodynamic polarization techniques. The LCPs showed high anticorrosion efficiency depending on their structure. These LCPs were confirmed as mixed-type inhibitors. Furthermore, the studied LCPs have aggregation-induced emission behavior with controlled emission colors (blue, white, and green) via adjusting the solution concentration. The molecular aggregation changed according to the solution concentration, and thus the relative emission intensity was tuned at different wavelengths of the visible range. Interestingly, moderate solution concentrations displayed white emission from a single component. The LCPs also exhibited a stable emission behavior at high temperatures. Because these materials combine the advantages of polymers, LCs, corrosion inhibitors, and white-light emitters, these current findings should open a door to develop more attractive luminescent coatings.