Experimental and theoretical studies on corrosion inhibition performance of an environmentally friendly drug on the corrosion of copper in acid media

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the corrosion inhibition performance of an eco-friendly drug clozapine on the corrosion of copper in 1.0 M nitric acid and 0.5 M sulfuric acid solutions. Design/methodology/approach The corrosion inhibition nature of inhibitor molecule was evaluated by weight loss, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization studies. An attempt was made to correlate the molecular properties of neutral and protonated forms of inhibitor molecule using quantum chemical calculations. The effect of temperature on the corrosion inhibition efficiency was also studied using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The potential of zero charge was determined to explain the mechanism of corrosion inhibition. Findings The studies on corrosion inhibition performance of clozapine showed that it has good corrosion inhibition efficiency on the corrosion of copper in 1.0 M nitric acid and 0.5 M sulfuric acid solutions. The adsorption of clozapine molecules onto the copper surface obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The value of free energy of adsorption calculated is very close to −40 kJmol −1 , indicating that the adsorption is through electrostatic coulombic attraction and chemisorption. The decrease in the value of energy of activation with the addition of inhibitor also shows the chemisorption of the inhibitor on the metal surface. The potential of zero charge and quantum chemical studies confirmed that the protonated molecules also get involved in the corrosion inhibition process through physisorption. Originality/value The present work indicates that clozapine can act as a good corrosion inhibitor for the corrosion of copper in acid media.