Computational and electrochemical studies on the inhibition of corrosion of mild steel by l-Cysteine and its derivatives

This article presents the investigation of l-Cysteine (CYS) and its derivatives including N-Acetyl-l-Cysteine (NACYS), N-Acetyl-S-Benzyl-l-Cysteine (NASBCYS), and N-Acetyl-S-Hexyl-l-Cysteine (NASHCYS) as green chemical corrosion inhibitors for mild steel in 1 M HCl solutions. Weight loss method and Tafel polarization measurement were performed to determine the corrosion parameters and inhibition efficiencies. Experimental results showed that these compounds suppressed both anodic and cathodic reactions, and the inhibition efficiency of the four inhibitors followed the order NASBCYS > NASHCYS > NACYS > CYS. In order to further study the corrosion mechanisms, quantum chemical calculation and molecular dynamics method were applied. The relationships between quantum chemical parameters and corrosion inhibition efficiency were discussed. Molecular dynamics method was used to simulate the adsorption behavior of each inhibitor in solvent. The results showed that these four inhibitors can adsorb on mild steel surface by donor acceptor interactions between lone-pair electrons of heteroatoms/π-electrons of aromatic ring and vacant d-orbital of iron.