Recent advances in biopolymers/carbohydrate polymers as effective corrosion inhibitive macro-molecules: A review study from experimental and theoretical views

Abstract

As the researchers have focused on discovering new replacements for conventional inhibitors to address the toxicity concerns, biopolymers/carbohydrate-polymers can play a vital role among different alternatives. It has been discovered that biopolymers (i.e., chitosan/polydopamine/Cellulose/Carrageenan) can effectively mitigate the corrosion of alloys/metals. A considerable number of biopolymers have been identified, and several of them have been researched for their anti-corrosion-related properties. Different modifications have been tested on them, and diverse techniques have been employed to evaluate their efficacy. In spite of some limitations to perceive the biopolymers and carbohydrate polymers as corrosion inhibitors, still, considerably more work will need to be done for the introduction of new biopolymers as well as modification of the existing ones. In this study, the newest publications on several important biopolymers, namely lignin, tannin, inulin, extracellular polymeric substance, carrageenan, cellulose, chitosan, polydopamine, and gum, which have been regarded as corrosion inhibitive substances in the literature, were explored. The results of several assessment methods such as surface studies, corrosion techniques, and thermal analysis conducted to uncover the corrosion-inhibitive capacity of these candidates were explored. It is hoped that such effort went into collecting various research with a focus on the biopolymers as corrosion inhibitors can contribute to the process of shaping new ideas and promoting new investigations.