An in-depth on the high corrosion resistance of carbon steel in an acidic solution by a novel functionalized graphene oxide with oxime derivative via cutting-edge experimental characterization and computational modeling

Carbon steel is inextricably linked to industrial production and construction owing to its superior durability, low cost, and simplicity of manufacturing. However, it was discovered that carbon steel is very sensitive to corrosion in a variety of harsh environments, the most common of which are acidic solutions, which are frequently used in the surface pickling and oil well acidification sectors. In an acidic environment, carbon steel spontaneously degrades causing significant corrosion difficulties. As a result, research into carbon steel corrosion in aggressive acidic solutions has garnered a lot of attention. The inclusion of a corrosion inhibitor seems to be one of the most efficient techniques for preventing carbon steel corrosion. The current study is concerned with the synthesis of 1,3-diphenylprop-2-en-1-one oxime functionalized graphene oxide (DPPO-GO), which was characterized using FTIR, Raman, and a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Potentiodynamic Polarization curves (PDP), and weight loss measurements were used to investigate the inhibitory effect of functionalized graphene oxide on the corrosion of carbon steel in 0.5 M sulfuric acid solution. Concurrently, the effect of concentrations and the synergistic effect were explored. According to the PDP results, the DPPO-GO behave as mixed-type inhibitors. At the optimum dose of 60 mg/L, EIS measurements revealed that functionalized graphene oxide exhibited a great protective capacity reaching 94%. Adsorption experiments demonstrated that the DPPO-GO displayed both physisorption and chemisorption processes, corresponding to the Langmuir model. By computing the synergism parameter, the synergistic influence of DPPO-GO and KI was determined. Under diverse settings, the surface morphology of carbon steel was investigated using SEM and UV–visible. Calculations based on density functional theory, Monte Carlo, and Molecular dynamic simulations were utilized to further investigate the inhibitory impact. [Display omitted] •CO-GO has an outstanding corrosion inhibitor performance (94%).•The temperature effect disclosed that CO-GO formed strong links with the carbon steel surface.•The CO-GO prevents corrosion by adsorbing on the metallic surface.