Aniline and some of its derivatives as corrosion inhibitors for nickel in 1 M HCl solution

The inhibiting action of aniline and some of its derivatives (o‐, m‐ and p‐anisidine) towards the corrosion behaviour of nickel in 1 M HCl solution has been studied using weight loss and polarization techniques. These compounds were found to retard the corrosion rate of nickel. At constant temperature, the corrosion rate decreases with increasing inhibitor concentration. On the other hand, at any inhibitor concentration, the increase in temperature leads to an increase in the corrosion rate. The activation energy, ΔE_a, the equilibrium constant, k, as well as the other thermodynamic parameters (ΔG, ΔH and ΔS) for inhibitor process were calculated and analysed. The inhibitor efficiencies calculated from both weight loss and polarization methods are in good agreement and were found to be in the order: p‐anisidine > o‐anisidine > m‐anisidine > aniline. The inhibitive action of these compounds was attributed to the adsorption of molecular species and their inhibitive efficiencies depend on the relative position of the  OCH₃ group in the aniline ring. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry