Reduction of copper corrosion in 5 M HCl solution by expired nontoxic Ofloxacin drug

Abstract

Several corrosion inhibitors have been used in industry to eliminate the corrosive influence of harsh hydrochloric acid solutions on the mechanical behavior of copper structures. Recently, expired drug products as corrosion inhibitor have been developed to replace the organic compounds (synthesized) which are expensive and toxic molecules. In this work, the expired nontoxic Ofloxacin drug is used to study the its effectiveness as a corrosion inhibitor for copper metal in 5 M HCl solution with the aid of weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, AC impedance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. The weight loss results demonstrated that, 4 mg/L of expired Ofloxacin drug was the optimum concentration for inhibition of copper corrosion in acidic system. Tafel plot results revealed the mixed corrosion inhibition property of expired Ofloxacin drug. AC impedance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM) results well supported the weight loss and potentiodynamic polarization results.