Electrochemical, surface analysis, computational and anticorrosive studies of novel di-imine Schiff base on X65 steel surface

Abstract

The inhibitory effect of di-imine-SB namely ((N1Z, N4E)-N1, N4-bis (4 (dimethylamino) benzylidene) butane 1,4-diamine) on X65-steel in 1 M HCl has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), and weight loss outcomes display the anticorrosion properties of “di-imine- SB”. The inhibitory efficiency exceeds 90% at the optimal concentration of 1 × 10–3 M “di-imine- SB”. The metal surface was examined further using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The effectiveness of the di-imine-SB is returned into its adsorption on X65-steel surface and found in agreement with Langmuir adsorption isotherm. According to the standard Gibbs free energy of adsorption ({Delta G}_{ads}^{^circ }), di-imine-SB adsorption tends to be chemical rather than physical, it increases the activation energy ({mathrm{E}}_{a}) of metal dissolution reaction and makes it hard to occur. The PDP data suggested anodic and cathodic type of the di-imine-SB inhibitor. Meanwhile, increasing the resistance of X65-steel to 301 Ω cm2 after adding 1 mM of di-imine-SB confirms its protective effect. Whereas, the positive value of the fraction of electron transference (ΔN, 0.746), confirms the affinity of di-imine-SB to share electrons to the partially filed 3d-orbital of Fe forming strong protective film over X65-steel surface. Aided by Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, the calculated adsorption energy (Eads) suggests excessive adsorption affinity of di-imine-SB on metal surface over the corrosive chlorides and hydronium ions. A good correlation between the theoretical hypothesis and the experimental inhibition efficiency has been achieved. The comparative study showed the superior of the di-imine-SB as potential corrosion inhibitor compared with those reported before. Finally, global reactivity descriptors; electron affinity (A), ionization potential (I), electronegativity (χ), dipole moment (µ), global hardness (eta), electrophilicity index and, Fukui indices were also calculated and found well correlated to the reactivity of di-imine-SB.