Establishment of equivalent circuits from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy study of corrosion inhibition of steel by pyrazine in sulphuric acidic solution

Abstract This paper describes the use of the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique (EIS) in order to study the corrosion inhibition process of steel in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution at the open circuit potential (OCP). Diethyl pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxylate (Prz) as a non-ionic surfactant (NS) inhibitor has been examined. The Nyquist diagrams consisted of a capacitive semicircle at high frequencies followed by a well-defined inductive loop at low frequency values. The impedance measurements were interpreted according to suitable equivalent circuits. The results obtained showed that the Prz is a good inhibitor. The inhibition efficiency increases with an increase in the surfactant concentration to attain 80% at the 5 × 10−3M. Prz is adsorbed on the steel surface according to a Langmuir isotherm adsorption model.