Synergistic effect of ZnO nanocomposite of Dodonea viscosa for corrosion inhibition in saline media

Dodonea viscosa-zinc oxide (DV-ZnO) nanocomposite was synthesized and characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermal gravimetric method (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The most abundant compounds in the plant extract were explored using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). FTIR indicated the existence of the different functional groups, XRD showed that the nanocomposite has the hexagonal wurtzite shape of ZnO nanoparticles, SEM-EDS showed a size of 50 nm, and elemental analysis depicts the existence of the different elements in the extract, which confirms, along with TGA results, the formation of DV-ZnO nanocomposite. The nanocomposite synergistic effect was examined for anticorrosion capabilities using gravimetric, electrochemical, and surface analysis methods. Both the plant extract and the nanocomposite exhibited corrosion inhibition abilities. However, the incorporation of the plant extract with ZnO increased the inhibition efficiency by 20 %. Weight loss and electrochemical methods concluded an inhibition efficiency of 80 % for DV-ZnO nanocomposite. The inhibition of the nanocomposite is due to the adsorption of the inhibitor on the carbon steel surface, which was verified using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The adsorption was found to follow both Langmuir and Temkin isotherms. Surface examination using atomic force microscopy (AFM) found that the carbon steel surface roughness was decreased from the sample submerged in an uninhibited medium (Sa = 121.20 nm) when adding DV-ZnO nanocomposite (Sa = 22.95 nm) and DV plant extract inhibitor (Sa = 54.73 nm).