Electrochemical and surface analytical studies of transition metal bipyridine dicarboxylic acid complexes as corrosion inhibitors for a mild steel in HCl solution

The 2,2′-bipyridine-3,3′-dicarboxylic acid (bpda) and its transition metal complexes including Ni(bpda)2, Zn(bpda)2 and Mn(bpda)2, were synthesized and tested as corrosion inhibitors for a carbon steel in 0.5 M HCl solution by electrochemical tests and surface analyses. The electrochemical results indicate that the inhibition efficiencies increase with the concentration of corrosion inhibitors. The complexes exhibit higher inhibition efficiencies compared to the bpda ligand, among which Ni(bpda)2 is the most effective for inhibiting corrosion. The corrosion morphology observation further evidences the superior corrosion inhibition performance of the three complexes. Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses confirm the spontaneous adsorption of all four inhibitors on the steel surface, and the adsorption analysis suggests a combined physisorption and chemisorption mechanism. Accordingly, the superior corrosion inhibition performance of the three complexes could be attributed to their good adsorption abilities.