Application of a Quartz Crystal Microbalance to the Study of Copper Corrosion in Acid Solution Inhibited by Triazole‐Iodide Protective Films

Abstract

When one uses one side of a quartz crystal microbalance as the working electrode in electrochemical experiments, mass changes can be monitored continuously with a sensitivity of a few nanograms per square centimeter. In this study the working electrode consisted of electrolytically deposited copper, exposed to 0.1M sodium sulfate at pH 3, open to the atmosphere and in some cases containing . Upon addition of one of the inhibitors, benzotriazole (BTA), tolyltriazole (TTA), carboxy‐benzotriazole (CBT), or these inhibitors plus potassium iodide, the rate of frequency change decreases markedly. After removal of the inhibitors from the corrosive medium by fast solution exchange there is a marked continuing protective effect of the inhibitor films in the cases of BTA + KI and TTA + KI with the latter being the most stable and protective of all of the films. The results were qualitatively the same in the more corrosive solution containing .