Chitosan–Surfactant Composite Nanocoatings on Glass and Zinc Surfaces Prepared from Aqueous Solutions

Hydrophobic coatings from chitosan–surfactant composites (ca. 400 nm thick by UV-Vis spectroscopy) for possible corrosion protection were developed on glass and zinc substrates. The surfactants (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS or sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, and SDBS) were added to the chitosan by two methods: mixing the surfactants with the aqueous chitosan solutions before film deposition or impregnating the deposited chitosan films with surfactants from their aqueous solutions. For the mixed coatings, it was found that the lower surface tension of solutions (40–45 mN/m) corresponded to more hydrophobic (80–90°) coatings in every case. The hydrophobicity of the impregnated coatings was especially significant (88° for SDS and 100° for SDBS). Atomic force microscopy studies revealed a slight increase in roughness (max 1.005) for the most hydrophobic coatings. The accumulation of surfactants in the layer was only significant (0.8–1.0 sulfur atomic %) in the impregnated samples according to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Polarization and electron impedance spectroscopy tests confirmed better barrier properties for these samples (40–50% pseudo-porosity instead of 94%). The degree of swelling in a water vapor atmosphere was significantly lower in the case of the impregnated coatings (ca. 25%) than that of the native ones (ca. 75%), measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Accordingly, good barrier layer properties require advantageous bulk properties in addition to surface hydrophobicity.