Influence of inhibitor adsorption on readings of microelectrode during SVET measurements

One of the main applications of SVET in corrosion research is the study of the corrosion inhibition effectiveness and the evaluation of the self-healing effect of inhibitor-containing coatings. The tip of the platinum/iridium vibrating electrode is electroplated with black platinum, which creates a large electrode surface and confers high capacitance to the tip. When studying organic inhibitors in aqueous solutions with SVET, inhibitor adsorption may occur at the tip, causing its contamination and the initial calibration conditions of the system might not be valid. This may lead to an incorrect interpretation of the results. This work is intended to study the effect of different inhibitors (cerium nitrate, 8-hydroxyquinoline, potassium 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazolate, benzotriazole and mercaptobenzothiazole), typically used for corrosion protection of aluminum alloys, on the Pt probe signal during SVET measurements. The results reveal the detrimental effect of some corrosion inhibitors on the sensitivity of the vibrating probe, an effect that imposes a regular assessment of the electrode state during measurements. The increase of the signal noise was related to a decrease of the probe capacitance, while the false current density signal was a result of the potential drift between vibrating and reference electrodes. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.