https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05958-7
Regular Article
Electrochemical, surface morphological and DFT calculations towards the corrosion inhibition of steel using seeds of Tribulus terrestris: an eco-friendly and sustainable approach
1
Department of Chemistry, Chandigarh University Mohali, NH-05, Ludhiana - Chandigarh State Highway, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, 140413, Mohali, Punjab, India
2
Department of Environmental Science, Parul Institute of Applied Sciences, Parul University Vadodara, 391760, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
3
Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences Research Group, Scientific Research Center, Al-Ayen University, 64001, Nasiriyah, Thi-Qar, Iraq
4
Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P. O. Box 2455, 11451, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
5
Department of Chemistry, Government Digvijay Autonomous Post Graduate College Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh, India
6
Faculty of Chemistry, National University of Uzbekistan, 100034, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
7
Central Asian University, 111221, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Received:
31
August
2024
Accepted:
31
December
2024
Published online:
11
January
2025
This study describes a novel application of the Tribulus terrestris extract as a highly efficient corrosion inhibitor for steel in 1 M H2SO4 solution. The Tribulus terrestris extract contains considerable phytochemicals, notably Tribuloside, Kaempferol, and Kaempferol-3-glucoside that are basically for its anticorrosive behavior. Various studies including weight reduction analysis, electrochemical measurements (PDP and EIS), surface investigations, DFT calculations and simulation, etc. were performed to explore the Tribulus terrestris extract as a corrosion inhibitor. The highest inhibition efficiency of 96.25% was observed at 700 mg/L concentration of the Tribulus terrestris extract. The polarization curves obtained in the presence of the Tribulus terrestris extract indicate the extract behaved as a mixed type of inhibitor. In addition, the formation of a protective layer on the surface of steel was confirmed using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The DFT analysis revealed a few electron-rich regions in the inhibitor's phytochemicals, which supported the high nucleophilicity. According to Frontier molecular orbital analysis, all three inhibitors contain electrons in their HOMO regions, which allow them to interact with vacant d-orbitals of iron on metal surfaces. Consequently, covalent bonds are formed between the metal surface and the corrosion inhibitor, which results in the inhibitor adsorption on the metal surface.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
