Thermodynamic, electrochemical and quantum chemical investigation of some Schiff bases as corrosion inhibitors for mild steel in hydrochloric acid solutions

The corrosion inhibition of mild steel in 1.0 M HCl solution by four Schiff bases was investigated using weight loss and electrochemical measurements and quantum chemical calculations. All compounds showed >90% inhibition efficiency at their optimum concentrations. The activation energy (Ea) of corrosion and other thermodynamic parameters were calculated to elaborate the mechanism of corrosion inhibition. The adsorption of the inhibitors on the mild steel surface follows Langmuir isotherm model. Polarization studies indicated that all studied inhibitors are mixed type. The computed quantum chemical properties viz., electron affinity (EA) and molecular band gap (ΔEMBG) show good correlation with experimental inhibition efficiencies.