Abstract
1-(2-Dodecylsulfanyl-ethyl)-1H-imidazole (DSEIm) and 2-Imidazol-1-yl-ethylsulfanyl)-acetic acid (ImESAA) were synthesized via radical catalysis method and characterized using H-1 NMR and C-13 NMR spectroscopy. The corrosion performances of mild steel specimens were studied by three imidazole derivatives include: 1-vinylvinylimidazole (VyIm), DSEIm and ImESAA, which were investigated in 1.0 M HCl using weight loss measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) method. The results obtained show that DSEIm is the best corrosion inhibitor; its inhibition efficiency (E %) increases with increasing the inhibitor concentration, but decreases with the raise of temperature. Potentiodynamic polarization studies clearly revealed that the inhibitors changed the mechanism of hydrogen evolution, and that they acted as mixed inhibitors, but most effectively in the cathodic range. The higher values of activation energy (Ea) in the inhibited solution can be correlated with the increased thickness of the double layer; this is interpreted with physical adsorption of the inhibitor onto the metal surface resulting in the formation of a surface film. Adsorption of imidazole derivatives have been studied with Monte Carlo simulations.