Green protectives on corroded copper artworks: Surface characterization and electrochemical behaviour in simulated acid rain

Microscale Corrosion Inhibition Behavior of Four Corrosion Inhibitors (BTA, MBI, MBT, and MBO) on Archeological Silver Artifacts Based on Scanning Electrochemical Cell Microscopy

“…19,33 In this paper, building upon previous work, 8 we applied single-channel SECCM (Figure 1) to explore the corrosion inhibition effects of different inhibitors from a microscopic perspective in the presence of chloride ions, which simulate the potential sweat residue during the preservation and transportation of cultural relics. By quantitatively characterizing the electrochemical behavior (thermodynamics: OCP, E corr ; kinetics: i corr ), we reassessed and reevaluated four commonly used corrosion inhibitors for silver/copper artifacts, including 1,2,3-benzotriazole (BTA), 11 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MBI), 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), and 2-mercaptobenzoxazole (MBO) (Figure 2), 12,13 to understand their differences in preventing corrosion-induced discoloration (Agenriched α-phase corrosion) and embrittlement (Cu-enriched β-phase corrosion). Combining X-ray photoelectron spectros-copy (XPS), we elucidated the reasons for the variations in corrosion inhibition effects among the different inhibitors.…”

“…The first method involves direct measurement, where the inhibitory effects are assessed by measuring changes in electrochemical behavior (e.g., open-circuit potential-OCP, corrosion potential- E corr , corrosion current- i corr , electrochemical impedance spectroscopy-EIS, etc.) of simulated metal samples before and after applying the inhibitors. − The second method is an indirect measurement, which evaluates inhibitory effects by exposing simulated metal samples to a specific corrosive environment for an extended period and monitoring changes in selected physical parameters (such as weight or color) over time. , It should be noted that these methods evaluate only the overall effect of corrosion inhibitors on metals and do not specifically target or test compositional and structural differences in localized areas of the simulated samples. Additionally, the lengthy experimental periods required for indirect measurements (ranging from several months to several years) are not suitable for the rapid development of new corrosion inhibitors.…”