4-Chloro-benzoic acid [1,2,4]triazol-1-ylmethyl ester as an effective inhibitor of mild steel corrosion in HCl solution

Abstract

4-Chloro-benzoic acid [1,2,4]triazol-1-ylmethyl ester (CBT) was synthesized and its inhibiting action on the corrosion of mild steel in 1 M hydrochloric acid solutions was investigated by means of weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that CBT is an excellent inhibitor for mild steel in acid medium and its inhibition efficiency (IE%) is up to 90.2% at a concentration of 10(-3) M at 298 K. EIS showed that the charge transfer controls the corrosion process in the uninhibited and inhibited solutions. Potentiodynamic polarization studies clearly reveal that CBT acts essentially as mixed-type inhibitor. Thermodynamic parameters such as adsorption heat (Delta H(ads)(0)), adsorption entropy (Delta S(ads)(0)), and adsorption free energy (Delta G(ads)(0)) were obtained and discussed from experimental data of the temperature studies of the inhibition process at four temperatures ranging from 298 to 333 K. Kinetic parameters activation such as E(a), Delta H*, Delta S*, and pre-exponential factor have been calculated and discussed. Adsorption of the inhibitor on the mild steel surface followed Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The values of the free energy of adsorption Delta G(ads)(0) indicated that the adsorption of CBT molecule was a spontaneous process, and was typical of chemisorption.