A comprehensive review on smart anti-corrosive coatings

•The application of smart anticorrosive coatings is comprehensively reviewed.•The development of the extrinsic healing smart anticorrosive coating is introduced.•The development of the intrinsic healing smart anticorrosive coating is summarized.•The development direction of smart anticorrosive coating is put forward. Smart anticorrosive coatings have better anticorrosion ability than traditional anticorrosive coatings. This is attributed to the development of active protection performance in the smart anticorrosive coating based on the passive barrier of the traditional coating. Smart anticorrosive coating can effectively respond to environmental changes, heal coating defects, and prevent further corrosion. In this study, the application prospects of smart anticorrosive coatings for protection of metal corrosion are reviewed from two aspects of extrinsic and intrinsic self-healing. First, the related concepts of healing due to coating are introduced. Second, the development of nano-container, anticorrosion performance, existing problems, and optimization measures of the extrinsic healing smart anticorrosive coating are introduced. Third, the mechanism, anti-corrosion performance, existing problems, and optimization measures of intrinsic healing smart anticorrosive coating are summarized. Finally, the development direction of smart anticorrosive coating is put forward, and the possible application prospects of these smart coatings to attain a long-term effect in the future are discussed.