Experimental and theoretical studies of anti-ulcer drugs with benzimidazole rings as corrosion inhibitor for copper in 1 M nitric acid medium

The adsorption effect of esomeprazole (ESP) and lansoprazole (LP) on corrosion behavior of copper in 1 M HNO3 solution was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and weight loss measurements. The experimental results indicate that both ESP and LP inhibited the corrosion of copper in nitric acid solution and the inhibition efficiency increased as the concentration of the compounds increased. EIS measurements confirmed that the charge transfer resistance increases on increasing the inhibitor concentration. Polarization measurements showed that the inhibitors are of mixed type. From the weight loss measurements, the inhibition efficiency of the inhibitors was found to vary with concentration, immersion time, and temperature. The adsorption of inhibitors on the copper surface follows Langmuir isotherm. The surface morphology was examined by scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope. Further, the computational calculations are performed to find a relation between their electronic and structural properties.