Corrosion inhibition of stainless steel in sulfuric acid solution containing sulfide ions

Although stainless steel (SS) has good corrosion resistance in most aqueous solutions, it suffers corrosion in some solutions which contain aggressive ions such as sulfide ions. This study aims to use some cephalosporins (cefotaxime, cephapirin and cefazolin) as corrosion inhibitors of commercial SS in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution containing sulfide ions at 30°C.

The study was carried out using weight loss method, potential-time, linear polarization, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance measurements, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared and energy dispersive X-ray analysis.

The presence of the cephalosporin compound in the corrosive medium shifted the corrosion potential of SS to much positive side, which enhances self-passivation of SS, and the shifting increased with increasing inhibitor concentration. The cephalosporin compounds worked as effective inhibitors with mainly anodic and the efficiency increase as cefotaxime < cephapirin < cefazolin. The inhibitors form a protective adsorbed layer, which enriches the surface content of Ni and Cr and thus assists the SS to be passive.

The antibiotics cephalosporins could be used as effective corrosion inhibitors for SS in acidic solutions containing sulfide ions. The inhibitors enhances the the passive oxide film of SS even in presence of aggressive ions such as sulfide ions.