Synthesis of vinyl trimethyl silane and acrylic acid modified silica nanoparticles as corrosion inhibition protocols in saline medium

Abstract

Metal corrosion is one of the detrimental processes in many areas which can lead to induce tremendous economic losses and reduce industrial production. Therefore, metal protection is becoming a technical, economical, and environmentally important approach for delaying the corrosion process. Nanomaterials functionalization is gaining high interest due to its outstanding engineering performance of material for anti-corrosion. In an aggressive medium such as seawater and 3.5 wt% NaCl (stimulated seawater) environments, stainless steels are widely utilized where the polymeric inhibitor could easily be incorporated on the metal surface. In this report, the biodegradable polymeric inhibitor has been newly grafted on mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN). The silane agent was grafted with polyacrylic acid vinyltrimethoxysilane (Si-PAA-VTMS) by reacting MSN with polyacrylic acid (PAA) and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS). Furthermore, FTIR, SEM/EDX, AFM, and WCA measurements were applied for material surface characterization, adsorbed polymeric film, and corrosion properties of the prepared inhibitor. FTIR spectra displayed the presence of the carboxylic groups on the prepared Si-PAA-VTMS inhibitor indicating the successful synthesis. From SEM/EDX and AFM results, low porosity and dense double-layer coating of the polymer inhibitor were found on the surface morphologies which could effectively delay the rust formation. Hydrophobicity behavior was also examined after inhibitor adsorption onto the steel surface producing a higher water contact angle that repels the aggressive water content. Additionally, by utilizing optimum inhibitor concentration at 100 ppm, low corrosion rate (∼4.0–9.0 × 10−3 mm/year) and high inhibition efficiency (>80 %) were achieved at higher temperatures up to 60 °C.