Insights into the Corrosion Inhibition Performance of Isonicotinohydrazide Derivatives for N80 Steel in 15% HCl Medium: An Experimental and Molecular Level Characterization

Abstract

In this work, two compounds of isonicotinohydrazide organic class, namely (E)-N′-(1-(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)ethylidene) isonicotinohydrazide (MAPEI) and (Z)-N′-(2-oxo-2, 3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-ylidene) isonicotinohydrazide (OHEI) were synthesized and evaluated for corrosion protection of N80 steel in a concentrated acidic medium (15 wt.% HCl) at a temperature of 303 K. The weight loss method (gravimetric method) and electrochemical techniques, i.e., electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization curves (PPC), were used to evaluate the inhibition and adsorption characteristics of tested compounds. Further, surface characterization using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to assess the surface morphology of steel before and after inhibition. Weight loss experiments at 303 K and 363 K showed that tested compounds’ performance decreased with the increase in temperature, particularly at low concentrations of inhibitors whereas they exhibited good stability at higher concentrations. Electrochemical tests showed that MAPEI and OHEI inhibitors were effective at 5 × 10−3 mol/L, reaching an inhibition efficiency above 90%. It was also determined that the adsorption of both inhibitors followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. Furthermore, SEM analysis showed that the investigated compounds can form a protective layer against steel corrosion in an acidic environment. On the other hand, the corrosion inhibition mechanism was established from density functional theory (DFT), and the self-consistent-charge density-functional tight-binding (SCC-DFTB) method which revealed that both inhibitors exerted physicochemical interactions by charge transfer between the s- and p-orbitals of tested molecules and the d-orbital of iron. The results of this work are intended to deepen the research on the products of this family to control the problem of corrosion.