Corrosion Inhibition Efficiency, Electrochemical and Quantum Chemical Studies of Some New Nonionic Surfactants for Carbon Steel in Acidic Media

In this work, three types of nonionic surfactant as corrosion inhibitors were synthesized. The chemical structure of the prepared inhibitors was confirmed using FT-IR and 1 H-NMR spectroscopy. The surface tension and thermodynamic properties of these inhibitors were investigated. The corrosion inhibition efficiency of these surfactants was investigated on a carbon steel surface in 1 M HCl solution by weight loss and electrochemical measurements. Untreated and treated steel surfaces were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Results show that the inhibition efficiency of the prepared inhibitors increases with increasing the ethylene oxide units. Also, the potentiodynamic polarization curves indicated that the investigated inhibitors behave as a mixed type inhibitor. Adsorption of these surfactants on the carbon steel surface was found to obey Langmuir’s adsorption isotherm. The computed quantum chemical properties viz., electron affinity (EA), highest occupied molecular orbital ( E HOMO ), the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital ( E LUMO ), energy gap Δ E = E HOMO − E LUMO , dipole moment ( μ ), polarizability and total energy ( E T ) show good correlation with experimental inhibition efficiency.