Natural Products for Materials Protection: Mechanism of Corrosion Inhibition of Mild Steel by Acid Extracts of Piper guineense

The adsorption and corrosion inhibiting effect of acid extracts of Piper guineense (PG) leaves on mild steel corrosion in 1 M HCl and 0.5 M H2SO4 was investigated using gravimetric, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The polarization and impedance results revealed that PG inhibited the cathodic and anodic partial reactions of the corrosion process via adsorption of the extract organic matter on the metal/solution interface. The mechanism of adsorption deduced from the variation of inhibition efficiency with temperature as well as kinetic and activation parameters suggest significant chemisorption of the extract constituents on the metal surface. Density functional theory calculations were performed to model the electronic structures of some extract constituents, including chemisorptive interactions with the Fe surface.