Expired Antifungal Drugs as Effective Corrosion Inhibitors for Carbon Steel in 1 M HCl Solution: Practical and Theoretical Approaches

The anticorrosion potency of two expired antifungal drugs, namely, bifonazole (BIF) and terconazole (TER), for X65 carbon steel (X65CS) in a 1.0 M HCl solution was estimated using practical and computational measurements. The results of all methods applied showed that the percentage of anticorrosive efficacy (% AE) increased for expired BIF and TER and reduced at elevated temperatures. The % AE values of expired BIF and TER (375 mg L-1) reached 92.08 and 94.19%, respectively, using polarization methods. The anticorrosion activities of the two expired drugs were interpreted based on their adsorption on the X65CS surface. The adsorption occurred according to the Langmuir isotherm model. The polarization results indicated that the expired drugs BIF and TER were mixed inhibitors. The impedance results showed a single capacitive loop, confirming that the charge transfer process controlled the corrosion of X65CS. Expired BIF and TER served as good pitting inhibitors by shifting the pitting potential to positive values. The thermodynamic functions of activation and adsorption were defined and explained. Density functional theory and Monte Carlo simulations were used to investigate the BIF and TER inhibitors. The theoretical parameters were consistent with the experimental results. The anticorrosion efficiencies determined using the various methods were in complete agreement.