Adsorption behavior and corrosion inhibitive potential of xanthene on mild steel/sulphuric acid interface

The inhibition of xanthene (XEN) on the corrosion of mild steel in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ was studied by gravimetric and UV–visible spectrophotometric methods at 303–333 K. Results obtained show that XEN act as inhibitor for mild steel in H₂SO₄ solution. The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with increase in XEN concentration but decreased with temperature. Activation parameters and Gibbs free energy for the adsorption process using Statistical Physics were calculated and discussed. The corrosion process in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ in the absence and presence of XEN follows zero-order kinetics. The UV–visible absorption spectra of the solution containing the inhibitor after the immersion of mild steel specimen indicate the formation of a XEN–Fe complex. Quantum chemical calculations using DFT were used to calculate some electronic properties of the molecule in order to ascertain any correlation between the inhibitive effect and molecular structure of xanthene.