A protective coating that stops corrosion as soon as it starts has been developed by European scientists. The new coating is activated by daylight and is less toxic than before, they claim. Ekaterina Skorb and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute, Potsdam, Germany, encased a known corrosion inhibitor, benzotriazole, inside the pores of light-sensitive titanium nanoparticles. When exposed to UV light, a change at the nanoparticle surface switches the containers to the open state, releasing the inhibitor. This was amazing because we can see in real time, after irradiating the surface, these containers open immediately,' says Skorb.
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