Abstract
The inhibitory impacts of two expired drugs, namely, azithromycin (AZM) and roxithromycin (RXM) towards the corrosion of mild steel (MS) in 1.0 M H
2
SO
4
solution were examined exploiting potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and weight loss techniques. The results obtained from various employed techniques indicate that increasing the concentration of examined expired drugs and reducing the temperature increased the inhibition efficiencies. Potentiodynamic polarization indicated that the expired AZM and RXM drugs acted as mixed-type inhibitors, but the cathode was highly polarized, β
c
> β
a
. The inhibiting power of these compounds is interpreted based on their adsorption on the surface of MS. The adsorption process obeys Langmuir isotherm. Impedance data confirmed that MS corrosion is under charge transfer control and the adsorption of both expired drugs on the MS surface led to the formation of protective film. The inhibition efficiency of RXM is greater than that of AZM due to the increased molecular weight and number of electron donating group within the expired drug. Activation and adsorption thermodynamics parameters were computed and interpreted. The adsorption process is spontaneous and endothermic.