Essential Oil of Salvia officinalis as Novel Eco-Friendly Inhibitor for Carbon Steel in HCl Solution: Weight Loss, Electrochemical and XPS Studies

Abstract

Essential oil of a medicinal plant (Salvia officinalis), used as an eco-friendly inhibitor for the corrosion of carbon steel in 1 M HCl, is presented. The corrosion inhibition properties of Salvia officinalis essential oil were evaluated by gravimetric and electrochemical methods. The results showed that the inhibition efficiency increases with the increase in inhibitor content to reach 82.84 at % 1.8 g/L. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analyses showed that the corrosion inhibition effect is linked to the adsorption of Salvia officinalis essential oil molecules on the steel surface. It was shown that the adsorption of the investigated inhibitor on the substrate surface obeyed to Temkin isotherm model.