Metronidazole as environmentally safe corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 0.5 M HCl: Experimental and theoretical investigation

The corrosion inhibition of mild steel in 0.5 M HCl by metronidazole (MNZ) was studied by gravimetric and potentiodynamic polarization methods. Inhibition efficiency of MNZ increased with increase in the concentration of inhibitor and decreased with the increase in temperature. MNZ acts as anodic-type inhibitor for mild steel. The adsorption of MNZ on mild steel surface obeys the Temkin adsorption isotherm. Density functional theory (DFT) study was performed in order to gain some insights into the electron donor-accepting properties of MNZ while molecular dynamics simulation was utilized to determine the binding properties of MNZ on Fe (1 1 0) and Fe2O3 (1 1 0) surfaces.