Electrochemical studies of prothioconazole as a novel corrosion inhibitor for copper in acidic solutions

Abstract

Prothioconazole is a fungicide that has a wide number of applications in agriculture, and it can ensure the safety of crops, users, and the environment. Prothioconazole, as a suppressor of copper dissolution in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution, has been evaluated using electrochemical experiments, weight loss tests, quantum chemical calculations, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical test results showed that prothioconazole was an excellent inhibitor, and the anticorrosion ability increased with the inhibitor concentration. The interaction of prothioconazole with copper is a spontaneous adsorption process accompanied by typical chemisorption. The number of water molecules (X) displaced by one prothioconazole molecule was obtained using diverse substitutional adsorption models based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data. In addition, the Fukui functions indicate that the triazole and benzene rings and the –CS atoms were the main active sites for the adsorption process.