Corrosion inhibition performance of imidazole derivative for protection of carbon steel in hydrochloric acid solution: Experimental and theoretical analysis

Abstract

Examining 1-((4S,5R)-2,4,5-tris(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)ethan-1-one (25MAC-C) as a corrosion/inhibitor of carbon steel (C.steel) in a 1 M HCl environment for the first time is what makes this work novel. Weight loss (WL) and electrochemical methods, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization curves (PDP), were used to assess their inhibitory qualities. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), & UV–visible were utilized to analyze the surface/morphology and characterize the metal surface. As concentration rose, 25MAC-C's inhibitory efficacy increased, peaking at 10⁻³ M at 98.5 %. In the [303–333 K] range, the effects of temperature on inhibitory efficiency were investigated. Following the Langmuir isotherm, 25MAC-C was adsorbed onto the C.steel surface in a corrosive solution. SEM/morphological illustrations were used to validate the WL and electrochemical findings. The experimental findings were corroborated through quantum-theoretical studies employing density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD)/simulations.