Dardagan Fruit extract as eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 1 M HCl: Electrochemical and surface morphological studies

Abstract In this study, Dardagan Fruit (DF) from Bingӧl - Turkey was tested as inhibitor corrosion for mild steel protection in 1 M HCl solution using electrochemical techniques. The surface of mild steel was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Elemental composition of the surface after exposing to test solutions was analyzed with the help of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Contact angle measurements were also performed to get information about the surface properties. Spectroscopic studies were performed to determine major components, chemical structure and adsorption mechanism of the extract. The excess surface charge of mild steel was determined using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and an inhibition mechanism was proposed. It was found that DF has good corrosion protection ability. The inhibition of corrosion rate reduces when concentration of DF and exposure time are increased and reaches 92% after 1 h and 97% after 6 h immersion to 3000 ppm inhibitor containing corrosive media. The high protection ability was assigned to formation of a homogenously distributed protective film over the metal.