A structure/function study of polyamidoamine dendrimer as a steel corrosion inhibitor

Abstract

A novel application of dendrimer technology is described in the present paper that use dendrimer molecule as a corrosion inhibitor for steel in molar hydrochloric acid. Inhibition effectiveness of polyamidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM) was assessed through potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. Polarization curves show that PAMAM acts as cathodic-type inhibitor. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, EIS plots shows that addition of PAMAM increases the polarization resistance of the corrosion process, and hence the inhibition efficiency. The molecular dynamics simulation results show that PAMAM can adsorb on the steel surface through the nitrogen atoms as well as-electrons in the dendrimer structure.