2023-05-16 14:15:42
Scientists have invented a way to give metals anti-corrosion properties. What is remarkable about the new method is that it is not a modification of the surface from a different chemical substance, as occurs with the processes that are commonly used to prevent corrosion. Instead, the oxidation resistance comes from the fact that the surface has a special texture, curved on the nanometer scale.
This advance is the work of researchers from the National University of Río Cuarto (UNRC) in Argentina and the University of La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain.
Once the evidentiary tests have been completed, the process has begun for both universities to jointly obtain the patent for the invention, officially described as “Highly efficient corrosion inhibitor for the protection of metals”.
This invention has a high strategic value since it is a revolutionary way to avoid corrosion and the consequent economic expense that the restoration of damaged structures demands. The phenomenon of corrosion consists of the deterioration of metallic structures due to the reaction of the metal with its environment. A study by the NACE (National Association of Corrosion Engineers) in the United States estimates that the global cost of corrosion is equivalent to 3.4 percent of global GDP.
The objective of the invention is to minimize the phenomenon of corrosion, an important industrial problem since it can cause accidents –such as the breaking of pieces– that represent a great cost.
This patent application is part of the nanotechnology and materials science sector. The process to protect intellectual property has begun at the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office.
“At present, corrosion is considered a highly relevant industrial problem. It is an electrochemical reaction of spontaneous oxidation-reduction, in which –as in a battery– two reactions take place: at the anode it oxidizes, that is, it corrodes the manufactured material, while at the cathode it is reduced. a species that, in most cases, is molecular oxygen. Thus, for corrosion to exist, these two reactions are necessary at the anode and at the cathode. At present, attention is focused on retarding corrosion by protecting the anode through paints, alloys or coatings, ignoring the possibility of inhibiting the molecular oxygen reduction reaction at the cathode, in order to prevent the process of corrosion. corrosion in the anode”, indicate the scientists in the description of the background of the invention.
Based on the respective inventive contributions, in the distribution of ownership it was established that 25% corresponds to the UNRC and the rest to the University of La Laguna. The benefits obtained as a result of commercial exploitation will be distributed in those proportions established by contract. In this way, the protection, valuation and transfer of the result of this joint research work is sought.
From the University of Río Cuarto, the inventor is the chemist Gabriel Planes. And, from the University of La Laguna, researchers from the Department of Chemistry Gonzalo García, an Argentine from Córdoba who is an Italian national, and Elena María Pastor Tejera, from Spain. The extension of ownership of the patent to other countries will be agreed upon by the members of the consortium. Rector Roberto Rovere signed a co-ownership agreement between this house of studies and his counterpart from Spain to carry out the registration and protection by means of an invention patent.
Gabriel Plans. (Photo: Argentina Investiga / National University of Río Cuarto)
The key to the new technique for making a metal resistant to oxidation is that the surface is extremely curved, on the nanometer scale. It has a very high roughness. That extreme surface curvature modifies the way the material reacts with oxygen.
Planes, who is now UNRC’s Undersecretary for Science and Technology, commented: “This came out of research I did during my postdoc at the University of La Laguna, in Tenerife, Spain. The investigation, in principle, had another course but later we began to see some characteristics of these surface coatings with which we were working and we took advantage of it to work on the issue of corrosion. We were not the first to report this type of surface structure. It was a group in England. But, by analyzing these kinds of surface structures, we found that they react very differently to oxygen compared to a conventional surface. Additional experiments were done. It will be an application patent, not for the invention of a material, but for the application of that material for a specific purpose”. (Source: Argentina Investiga / National University of Río Cuarto)
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