Performance of anionic dimeric surfactant on AZ31 Magnesium alloy in neutral medium unveiled through experimental and theoretical investigation

The synthesis of a novel eco-friendly anionic Gemini surfactant, pursuing three parameters of green chemistry: economic, environmental factor, and mass reaction efficiency is developed as a corrosion inhibitor for AZ31 Mg alloy. Herein, the corrosion inhibition ability of novel EDTA-based dimeric surfactant on AZ31 Mg alloy in corrosive media with varying concentrations of NaCl and Na₂SO₄ at temperatures between 30–50 °C were studied. The surfactant’s molecular structure is affirmed by FT-IR, NMR, and LC–MS techniques. Electrochemical techniques and surface morphology were employed to evaluate the corrosion inhibition efficiency. The inhibitor studied exhibited appreciable corrosion inhibition at 30 °C. The surfactant shows physical adsorption as per the data obtained in the Gibbs free energy and enthalpy of adsorption studies. The adsorption of the inhibitor was found to be a film-like layer on the surface of AZ31 Mg alloy and, is confirmed by SEM–EDX and XPS techniques. In addition, theoretical simulations were performed to compare with experimental results. Conclusively, the work provides a deeper understanding of the intricacies involved in the development of a new anionic dimeric surfactant as an effective corrosion inhibitor.