Investigation of Losartan Potassium as an eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor for copper in 0.5 M H2SO4

Abstract

Abstract Losartan Potassium (LP) is a commonly used drug for the treatment of hypertension. In this study, the corrosion inhibition performance of LP on copper in 0.5 M H2SO4 was investigated using electrochemical methods, surface morphological observation, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), quantum chemical calculation and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The electrochemical results show that LP is a type of mixed-type inhibitor that suppresses both cathode and anode reactions by forming a protective film. This film follows the Langmuir adsorption model and mainly depends on chemisorption in this process. XPS analysis confirmed that the adsorption film was due to the formation of coordination compounds between N atoms in the LP molecule and copper. Quantum chemical calculation further confirmed the active centres of N atoms in LP molecules, and MD simulation demonstrated that the inhibitor was adsorbed almost tightly and parallel to the Cu (111) surface.