Corrosion inhibition of mild steel in acidic environments: Mechanistic insights and protective effects of azo-cum inhibitor

An examination was conducted on a newly developed compound named N1-(coumarin-7-yl) amidrazone (Azo-Cum) to assess its impact on the corrosion of mild steel (MS) in a 1 M hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution. Various analytical techniques, including weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), UV–visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and AFM, were employed to evaluate the inhibitory efficiency of the compound. The findings indicated that inhibition efficiency rose with higher concentrations but decreased with elevated temperatures. According to weight loss analysis, the optimal concentration of the new eco-friendly inhibitor (5 ×10−4 M) exhibited a maximum efficiency of 89.26%. Polarization studies disclosed that Azo-Cum acted as a mixed-type inhibitor with a cathodic predominance. The adsorption of the inhibitor on the MS surface followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Additionally, the study explored the synergistic effect of Azo-Cum in combination with KI on MS corrosion in a 1 M HCl (Blank) solution using potentiodynamic polarization measurements. The results identified concentration ranges that demonstrated antagonistic inhibition. Density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamic simulation (MD) calculations were performed to investigate the correlation between molecular and chemical reactivity.