https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-07110-5
Regular Article
Fruit waste as an environment-friendly green corrosion inhibitor: electrochemical, surface morphological, and DFT studies
1
Department of Chemistry, Chandigarh University, Ludhiana-Chandigarh National Highway, 140413, Mohali, India
2
Department of Research and Incubation, Rayat Bahra University, Chandigarh-Ropar NH-205, 140103, Mohali, Punjab, India
a
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Received:
2
April
2025
Accepted:
24
November
2025
Published online:
5
December
2025
Abstract
This research examines the viability of fruit waste extract as a sustainable and eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 0.5 M HCl. The extract, which is abundant in phytochemicals such as nobiletin, caffeic acid, gallic acid, and epicatechin, demonstrated a peak inhibition efficiency of 88.50% at a concentration of 100 ppm. The inhibitor creates a protective layer on the metal surface, which significantly diminishes corrosion. The study employed weight loss analysis, potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), UV–visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and quantum chemical calculations (DFT) to assess the inhibition performance of the extract. Both PDP and EIS measurements were taken in triplicate, and the results include standard deviations and error margins. SEM analysis validated surface protection, while DFT calculations indicated strong adsorption characteristics, which are attributed to the presence of electron-donating functional groups. The results imply that fruit waste extract is a promising, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic corrosion inhibitors.
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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.
