Adherent polypyrrole films were electropolymerized from a near-neutral sodium oxalate solution at a CuZn electrode. The growth of these films was facilitated by the initial oxidation of the CuZn electrode in the oxalate solution to generate a zinc-containing copper(II) oxalate pseudopassive layer. This layer was sufficiently protective to inhibit further dissolution of the CuZn electrode and sufficiently conductive to enable the electropolymerization of pyrrole at the interface, and the generation of an adherent polypyrrole film. These films exhibited significant corrosion protection properties in acidified and neutral 0.1 mol dm−3 NaCl solutions. On continued immersion in these solutions, the polymer films lost some of their corrosion-protection properties, but still remained stable, offering good corrosion protection to the CuZn substrate.
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