Inhibition properties of self-assembled corrosion inhibitor talloil diethylenetriamine imidazoline for mild steel corrosion in chloride solution saturated with carbon dioxide

•Corrosion inhibitor talloil diethylenetriamine imidazoline effectively protects mild steel from CO2 corrosion.•Quartz crystal microbalance measurements were used to the investigate kinetics of corrosion inhibitor adsorption.•Adsorption of talloil diethylenetriamine imidazoline can be described by Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The inhibition effect of talloil diethylenetriamine imidazoline (TOFA/DETA imidazoline) on corrosion of mild steel in chloride solutions saturated with CO2 was investigated by weight loss measurements (WL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Adsorption mechanism and kinetics of self-assembled (TOFA/DETA imidazoline) monolayers formation on gold were studied using the quartz crystal microbalance measurements (QCM). WL and AFM results demonstrated that TOFA/DETA imidazoline can effectively protect mild steel surface from corrosion. QCM measurements shown that the adsorption of TOFA/DETA imidazoline onto gold follows Langmuir adsorption isotherm and further investigation of the adsorption process will be carried out on a corroding metal surface.