image: Carbon-based additives in organic coatings for the corrosion protection of mild steel
Credit: Dr. Ren Chong Lim
The 24th Carbon Research International Forum, held on May 22, 2026, brought researchers and viewers together for an accessible discussion on a global challenge that often goes unnoticed: corrosion. The online forum, now available as a recorded video on YouTube, focused on “Carbon-based additives in organic coatings for the corrosion protection of mild steel.”
The featured speaker was Dr. Ren Chong Lim, Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of the Centre for Advanced Materials and Energy Sciences at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. The session was hosted by Dr. Longlong Xia, Research Fellow at the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Corrosion is far more than a surface-level problem. According to figures highlighted in the talk from the Association for Materials Protection and Performance, corrosion costs the global economy about USD 2.5 trillion each year, roughly 2.4 percent of global gross domestic product. This economic burden is comparable to worldwide annual spending in major sectors such as the military or automotive industry.
Mild steel is widely used in buildings, bridges, pipelines, transportation systems, and other infrastructure because it is affordable, durable, and easy to shape. However, without effective protection, it is vulnerable to corrosion, which shortens service life and increases maintenance costs. Organic coatings are commonly used to protect steel surfaces, but many coating systems still rely on additives that may raise environmental or health concerns.
In his forum presentation, Dr. Lim discussed how carbon-based additives, including materials such as nanocellulose, could serve as more sustainable alternatives for improving corrosion-protective coatings.
“Protecting mild steel is not only an engineering problem. It is also a sustainability challenge,” Dr. Lim said. “If we can replace toxic or less sustainable additives with carbon-based materials from renewable sources, we may be able to extend the life of infrastructure while reducing environmental impacts.”
The talk introduced the advantages of carbon-based additives and explained how these materials can be incorporated into organic coatings. Dr. Lim also described how researchers evaluate coating performance, including surface characterization methods and electrochemical techniques used to assess corrosion protection on mild steel.
Beyond laboratory testing, the forum also touched on future directions for research, development, deployment, and commercialization. Dr. Lim emphasized that sustainable coating technologies must be evaluated not only for performance, but also for scalability, cost, material availability, and real-world application potential.
The recorded session is intended to make the discussion available to a wider audience, including researchers, students, industry professionals, and members of the public interested in materials science, infrastructure sustainability, and carbon-based technologies.
The online recording: https://youtu.be/Z8glVCDT5XU?si=sUrop1_URp9KepH-
The 24th International Forum was organized by the editorial offices of Carbon Research, Biochar, and Sustainable Carbon Materials.
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About Biochar
Biochar (e-ISSN: 2524-7867) is the first journal dedicated exclusively to biochar research, spanning agronomy, environmental science, and materials science. It publishes original studies on biochar production, processing, and applications—such as bioenergy, environmental remediation, soil enhancement, climate mitigation, water treatment, and sustainability analysis. The journal serves as an innovative and professional platform for global researchers to share advances in this rapidly expanding field.
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About Carbon Research
The journal Carbon Research is an international multidisciplinary platform for communicating advances in fundamental and applied research on natural and engineered carbonaceous materials that are associated with ecological and environmental functions, energy generation, and global change. It is a fully Open Access (OA) journal and the Article Publishing Charges (APC) are waived until Dec 31, 2025. It is dedicated to serving as an innovative, efficient and professional platform for researchers in the field of carbon functions around the world to deliver findings from this rapidly expanding field of science. The journal is currently indexed by Scopus and Ei Compendex, and as of June 2025, the dynamic CiteScore value is 15.4.
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