Enhanced corrosion resistance of carbon steel in normal sulfuric acid medium by some macrocyclic polyether compounds containing a 1,3,4-thiadiazole moiety: AC impedance and computational studies

We report here the use of macrocyclic polyether compounds containing a 1,3,4-thiadiazole moiety (n-MCTH) in the corrosion inhibition of C38 carbon steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 acid medium. The aim of this work is devoted to study the inhibition characteristics of these compounds for acid corrosion of C38 steel using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Data obtained from EIS show a frequency distribution and therefore a modeling element with frequency dispersion behaviour, a constant phase element (CPE) has been used. The experimental results obtained revealed that these compounds inhibited the steel corrosion in acid solution and the protection efficiency increased with increasing inhibitors concentration. The difference in their inhibitive action can be explained on the basis of the number of oxygen atoms present in the polyether ring which contribute to the chemisorption strength through the donor acceptor bond between the non bonding electron pair and the vacant orbital of metal surface. Adsorption of n-MCTH was found to follow the Langmuir’s adsorption isotherm. The thermodynamic functions of adsorption process were calculated and the interpretation of the results is given. These results are complemented with quantum chemical study in order to provide an explanation of the differences between the probed inhibitors. Correlation between the inhibition efficiency and the structure of these compounds are presented.