Evaluation of non-toxic corrosion inhibitors for copper in sulphuric acid

The aim of this paper is to study influence of the molecular structure on the inhibiting properties of organic compounds in corrosion processes in acid media. The inhibiting efficiency of non-toxic imidazole derivatives on copper corrosion in sulphuric acid is investigated. The investigation is performed using electrochemical methods of potentiodynamic polarisation as well as gravimetric measurements. The results of the investigation show that the inhibiting properties of substituted imidazoles depend on molecular structure. The best protection (93%) is obtained by adding a phenyl ring to the imidazole structure. The values of standard free energies of adsorption, as calculated from the Freundlich isotherm, indicate that in the presence of sulphuric acid imidazole derivatives adsorb on copper by a physisorption-based mechanism. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.