Self-assembled monolayers on magnesium alloy surfaces from carboxylate ions

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of carboxylate salts (Cn−1H2n−1COONa, n = 12, 16, 18) were successfully formed on Mg alloy substrate in ethanol solution and characterized by the contact angle measurement, ATR-FTIR, ellipsometry and XPS. The SAMs were regularly and densely anchored to the Mg alloy substrate via monodentate bonding with the tilting angles of about 40°, 33° and 27° for C12, C16 and C18 monolayers, respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) proved the corrosion protection of SAMs for Mg alloy substrate with protective efficiency (PE) of even up to 98.5%.