Nitrogen and sulfur Co-doped carbon dots as ecofriendly and effective corrosion inhibitors for Q235 carbon steel in 1 M HCl solution

Abstract

Novel nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon dots (N,S-CDs) were synthesized via a hydrothermal procedure using citric acid (CA) and thiourea (TU) as precursors, and the corresponding corrosion protection performance was first investigated for Q235 carbon steel in 1 M HCl solution. Experimental results indicated that N,S-CDs as mixed-type corrosion inhibitors could effectively prevent Q235 carbon steel from corrosion in 1 M HCl solution, and the corrosion inhibition efficiency was improved with the increase in N,S-CD concentration. The maximum value was achieved at 400 ppm of N,S-CDs at 25 C, which was approximately 96.6%, 94.6% and 90.55%, according to the potentiodynamic polarization curves, EIS results and weight loss measurement, respectively. Additionally, with the temperature ranging from 25 to 55 C, the inhibition efficiency obtained from the weight loss measurement was enhanced from 90.55% to 94.04%. Such superior inhibition effect was assigned to the physisorption and chemisorption of N,S-CDs on the Q235 carbon steel surface, which was also be confirmed by XPS analysis. The adsorption of N,S-CDs onto a steel substrate conformed to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm.