Metals adsorption inhibitors

Adsorption inhibitors have polar properties that cause them to be adsorbed on the surface of the metal they are usually organic materials. 

Adsorption is, of course, of major importance in the inhibition of corrosion by organic compounds (adsorption inhibitors) that have the ability to adsorb strongly on the metal surface, thus impeding the dissolution reaction and reducing the corrosion rate. It follows that the coverage of a metal surface by adsorbed inhibitor can be evaluated from the relationship... 

General adsorption inhibitors form a physical barrier over the entire metal surface. Examples are diphenylamine and furfuraldehyde. 

Adsorption inhibitors act by forming a film on the metal surface. The action of traditional oil-based red lead paint formulations presumably involves the formation of soaps and the precipitation of complex ferric salts that reinforce the oxide film. There has been substantial interest in recent years in development of replacements for lead-based and chromate-based inhibitor systems. Adsorption inhibitors based on pol3rmers have been of particular interest. In this volume, Johnson et al. and Eng and Ishida discuss inhibitors for copper 2-undecylimidazole is shown to be effective in acid media, where it suppresses the oxygen reduction reaction almost completely. Polyvlnyllmidazoles are shown to be effective oxidation inhibitors for copper at elevated temperatures. Also in this volume, Chen discusses the use of N-(hydroxyalkyl)acrylamide copolymers in conjunction with phosphate-orthophosphate inhibitor systems for cooling systems. 

ADSORPTION INHIBITORS - They are materials which caused them to be adsorbed on to the metal surface due to their polar properties. 

Vapour phase inhibitors can also be considered as adsorption inhibitors. These are used for protection of wrapped components temporarily. The inhibitor is placed together with the component(s) and acts due to its suitable low saturation pressure, leading to a sufficiently durable inhibitor condensate on the metal surface. By this the effect of water and oxygen is prevented. It should be emphasized that these inhibitors may accelerate corrosion on some non-ferrous metals and alloys. Examples of vapour phase inhibitors are bicyclohexyl-ammonium nitrite and cyclohexyl-amine carbonate. 

Silicates. For many years, siUcates have been used to inhibit aqueous corrosion, particularly in potable water systems. Probably due to the complexity of siUcate chemistry, their mechanism of inhibition has not yet been firmly estabUshed. They are nonoxidizing and require oxygen to inhibit corrosion, so they are not passivators in the classical sense. Yet they do not form visible precipitates on the metal surface. They appear to inhibit by an adsorption mechanism. It is thought that siUca and iron corrosion products interact. However, recent work indicates that this interaction may not be necessary. SiUcates are slow-acting inhibitors in some cases, 2 or 3 weeks may be required to estabUsh protection fully. It is beheved that the polysiUcate ions or coUoidal siUca are the active species and these are formed slowly from monosilicic acid, which is the predorninant species in water at the pH levels maintained in cooling systems. 

The very new techniques of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have yet to establish themselves in the field of corrosion science. These techniques are capable of revealing surface structure to atomic resolution, and are totally undamaging to the surface. They can be used in principle in any environment in situ, even under polarization within an electrolyte. Their application to date has been chiefly to clean metal surfaces and surfaces carrying single monolayers of adsorbed material, rendering examination of the adsorption of inhibitors possible. They will indubitably find use in passive film analysis. 

In modern practice, inhibitors are rarely used in the form of single compounds — particularly in near-neutral solutions. It is much more usual for formulations made up from two, three or more inhibitors to be employed. Three factors are responsible for this approach. Firstly, because individual inhibitors are effective with only a limited number of metals the protection of multi-metal systems requires the presence of more than one inhibitor. (Toxicity and pollution considerations frequently prevent the use of chromates as universal inhibitors.) Secondly, because of the separate advantages possessed by inhibitors of the anodic and cathodic types it is sometimes of benefit to use a formulation composed of examples from each type. This procedure often results in improved protection above that given by either type alone and makes it possible to use lower inhibitor concentrations. The third factor relates to the use of halide ions to improve the action of organic inhibitors in acid solutions. The halides are not, strictly speaking, acting as inhibitors in this sense, and their function is to assist in the adsorption of the inhibitor on to the metal surface. The second and third of these methods are often referred to as synergised treatments. 

Measurements of the adsorption of inhibitors on corroding metals are best carried out using the direct methods of radio-tracer detection and solution depletion measurements . These methods provide unambiguous information on uptake, whereas the corrosion reactions may interfere with the indirect methods of adsorption determination, such as double layer capacity measurements", coulometry", ellipsometry and reflectivity Nevertheless, double layer capacity measurements have been widely used for the determination of inhibitor adsorption on corroding metals, with apparently consistent results, though the interpretation may not be straightforward in some cases. 

Direct measurements on metals such as iron, nickel and stainless steel have shown that adsorption occurs from acid solutions of inhibitors such as iodide ions, carbon monoxide and organic compounds such as amines , thioureas , sulphoxides , sulphidesand mer-captans. These studies have shown that the efficiency of inhibition (expressed as the relative reduction in corrosion rate) can be qualitatively related to the amount of adsorbed inhibitor on the metal surface. However, no detailed quantitative correlation has yet been achieved between these parameters. There is some evidence that adsorption of inhibitor species at low surface coverage d (for complete surface coverage 0=1) may be more effective in producing inhibition than adsorption at high surface coverage. In particular, the adsorption of polyvinyl pyridine on iron in hydrochloric acid at 0 < 0 -1 monolayer has been found to produce an 80% reduction in corrosion rate . 

The information on inhibitor adsorption, derived from direct measurements and from inhibitive efficiency measurements, considered in conjunction with general knowledge of adsorption from solution indicates that inhibitor adsorption on metals is influenced by the following main factors. 

Interaction of the inhibitor with water molecules Due to the electrostatic and co-ordinate bond interactions described under the previous two headings, the surfaces of metals in aqueous solutions are covered with adsorbed water molecules. Adsorption of inhibitor molecules is a displacement... 

In the case of ions, the repulsive interaction can be altered to an attractive interaction if an ion of opposite charge is simultaneously adsorbed. In a solution containing inhibitive anions and cations the adsorption of both ions may be enhanced and the inhibitive efficiency greatly increased compared to solutions of the individual ions. Thus, synergistic inhibitive effects occur in such mixtures of anionic and cationic inhibitors . These synergistic effects are particularly well defined in solutions containing halide ions, I. Br , Cl", with other inhibitors such as quaternary ammonium cations , alkyl benzene pyridinium cations , and various types of amines . It seems likely that co-ordinate-bond interactions also play some part in these synergistic effects, particularly in the interaction of the halide ions with the metal surfaces and with some amines . 

The effects of adsorbed inhibitors on the individual electrode reactions of corrosion may be determined from the effects on the anodic and cathodic polarisation curves of the corroding metaP . A displacement of the polarisation curve without a change in the Tafel slope in the presence of the inhibitor indicates that the adsorbed inhibitor acts by blocking active sites so that reaction cannot occur, rather than by affecting the mechanism of the reaction. An increase in the Tafel slope of the polarisation curve due to the inhibitor indicates that the inhibitor acts by affecting the mechanism of the reaction. However, the determination of the Tafel slope will often require the metal to be polarised under conditions of current density and potential which are far removed from those of normal corrosion. This may result in differences in the adsorption and mechanistic effects of inhibitors at polarised metals compared to naturally corroding metals . Thus the interpretation of the effects of inhibitors at the corrosion potential from applied current-potential polarisation curves, as usually measured, may not be conclusive. This difficulty can be overcome in part by the use of rapid polarisation methods . A better procedure is the determination of true polarisation curves near the corrosion potential by simultaneous measurements of applied current, corrosion rate (equivalent to the true anodic current) and potential. However, this method is rather laborious and has been little used. 

Blocking of reaction sites The interaction of adsorbed inhibitors with surface metal atoms may prevent these metal atoms from participating in either the anodic or cathodic reactions of corrosion. This simple blocking effect decreases the number of surface metal atoms at which these reactions can occur, and hence the rates of these reactions, in proportion to the extent of adsorption. The mechanisms of the reactions are not affected and the Tafel slopes of the polarisation curves remain unchanged. Behaviour of this type has been observed for iron in sulphuric acid solutions containing 2,6-dimethyl quinoline, /3-naphthoquinoline , or aliphatic sulphides . 

Recent developments in the mechanisms of corrosion inhibition have been discussed in reviews dealing with acid solutions " and neutral solu-tions - . Novel and improved experimental techniques, e.g. surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy , infrared spectroscopy. Auger electron spectroscopyX-ray photoelectron spectroscopyand a.c. impedance analysis have been used to study the adsorption, interaction and reaction of inhibitors at metal surfaces. 

The processes of reversible adsorption of the coordination" inhibitors (including the adsorption of organometallic compounds) result in an increase in the lifetime of the transition metal-carbon bond. It is possible that due to this, in the case of propylene polymerization by two-component catalysts based on TiCU, at low temperatures a long-term increase of molecular weight with time was observed (192,193). 

They also provide useful corrosion inhibition by the adsorption of calcium phosphonate onto iron oxide corrosion products, thus reducing the ferrous metal corrosion rate. Phosphonates can be described as cathanodic corrosion inhibitors. 

A condition for inhibitor action is its adsorption on the metal at the open-circuit potential. Nentral inhibitor molecnles wiU not adsorb when this potential is far from the metal s point of zero charge (see Section 10.4.2). In this case, inhibitors forming ions are nsed cations (e.g., from amino compounds) or anions (from compounds with suKo groups), depending on the sign of surface charge. Inhibitor action is often enhanced greatly when mixtures of several substances are used. 

Adsorption and Film Formation. Inhibition of HC1 corrosion by organic compounds is a complicated multi-step process. Nevertheless, the effect of an inhibitor on corrosion of a metal is often treated mathematically with an equilibrium adsorption model for displacement of water (19,20) ... 

Adsorption versus Polymerization. It is instructive to examine further the time dependence of the corrosion inhibition. In acid corrosion inhibition tests, steady state is customarily assumed to be reached within 10 to 20 min after initial exposure of the metal specimen. Since the inhibitors function by reducing the available active surface area, we expect an increase in and a corresponding decrease in P. The degree of corrosion protection the inhibitor provides is given by... 

Figures 11(a) and 11(b) [112] show the variation of Ni-Ge-P deposition rate and Ge content as a function of aspartic acid and Ge(IV) concentration, respectively. A relatively low P content, ca. 1-2 at%, was observed in the case of films exhibiting a high concentration of Ge (> 18 at%). Like other members of its class, which includes molybdate and tungstate, Ge(IY) behaves a soft base according to the hard and soft acids and bases theory (HSAB) originated by Pearson [113, 114], capable of strong adsorption, or displaying inhibitor-like behavior, on soft acid metal surfaces. In weakly acidic solution, uncomplexed Ge(IV) most probably exists as the hydrated oxide, or Ge(OH)4, which, due to acid-base reactions, may be more accurately represented as [Gc(OH)4 nO ] ".

Table 3. Representative affinity constants for the binding of metal to transport sites or whole cells/organisms. Ionic strengths and pH values are given for the conditional constants. In the column Comments , information on the method of determination (Km = Michaelis-Menten constant WC = whole-cell titrations) the type of constant (CC = conditional constant IC = intrinsic constant) and special conditions (Cl = competitive inhibitors NICA = nonideal competitive adsorption) are given...

There is potential in the anti-HIV field. Polyoxometallates of the Keggin type bind to viral envelope sites on cell surfaces and interfere with virus adsorption. Metal-chelating macrocyclic bicyclam ligands are among the most potent inhibitors of HIV ever described, and there is considerable interest in the role of Zn proteins in the viral life cycle. 

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