Inhibition behavior of new ecological corrosion inhibitors for mild steel, copper and aluminum in acidic environment: Theoretical and experimental investigation

It is well known that the most practical approach to prevent metal from their degradation when it is in contact with aggressive solution is the application of inhibitors. The present work was designed to evaluate the inhibition behavior and the adsorption process of (E)-1-(5-methylfuran-2-yl)-3-(6-phenylimidazo[2,1-b]thiazol-5-yl) prop-2-en-1-one (MF-PIT) for various metals (Copper (Cu), Mild steel (MS), and Aluminum (Al)) in 1 M HCl using electrochemical techniques, surface analysis characterization, and theoretical approaches. Firstly, DFT calculations and molecular dynamic simulation were executed to explore the reactivity of the studied inhibitor, and the adsorption configuration indicated in each metal. Before the experimental test, the environmental toxicity was evaluated and confirmed the safety of using the studied concentration. PDP results showed a good inhibition performance with inhibition efficiency of around 97.5% for copper, 95.9% for Mild steel, and 92.2% for Aluminum at the optimum concentration of 10(-4) M. These results confirmed the EIS experiments and revealed that MF-PIT acted as a mixed-type inhibitor for the three metals. The adsorption of MFPIT obeyed the Langmuir isotherm model and form a strong bond with the studied metallic samples. The inhibition performance of MF-PIT showed a good correlation with the theoretical finding.