Molecular Structural Information of the Atmospheric Corrosion of Zinc Studied by Vibrational Spectroscopy Techniques: I. Experimental Approach

Abstract

As the nature of the interactions taking place on a metal surface during atmospheric corrosion is inherently complex, it imposes demands on the analytical studies that are needed to understand the fundamentals on a molecular level. Corrosion products may spread on the metal surface forming two- and three-dimensional structures. Thus, it is imperative to use different techniques to resolve the different types of growth. In this first part of a series of two papers, a systematic investigation is made to obtain detailed information on the mechanisms of the onset of atmospheric corrosion of zinc exposed to 115 ppb acetic acid in either dry or humidified air. The vibrational spectroscopy techniques used were vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy (VSFS, interface sensitive), infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS, near-surface sensitive), and confocal Raman microspectroscopy (CRM, bulk sensitive). The VSFS selectively targeted the two-dimensional structures, IRAS followed the growth of three-dimensional corrosion products, and CRM could provide a laterally resolved chemical map on localized aggregates of zinc hydroxy acetate and ZnO with bulk character.