Preparation and application of crosslinked poly(sodium acrylate)--coated magnetite nanoparticles as corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel alloy.

This work presents a new method to prepare poly(sodium acrylate) magnetite composite nanoparticles. Core/shell type magnetite nanocomposites were synthesized using sodium acrylate as monomer and N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker. Microemulsion polymerization was used for constructing core/shell structures with magnetite nanoparticles as core and poly(sodium acrylate) as shell. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was employed to characterize the nanocomposite chemical structure. Transmittance electron microscopy (TEM) was used to examine the morphology of the modified poly(sodium acrylate) magnetite composite nanoparticles. These particle will be evaluated for effective anticorrosion behavior as a hydrophobic surface on stainless steel. The composite nanoparticles has been designed by dispersing nanocomposites which act as a corrosion inhibitor. The inhibition effect of AA-Na/magnetite composites on steel corrosion in 1 M HCl solution was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Polarization measurements indicated that the studied inhibitor acts as mixed type corrosion inhibitor. EIS spectra exhibit one capacitive loop. The different techniques confirmed that the inhibition efficiency reaches 99% at 50 ppm concentration. This study has led to a better understanding of active anticorrosive magnetite nanoparticles with embedded nanocomposites and the factors influencing their anticorrosion performance.

1. Introduction

Corrosion is one of the most common causes of damaged metal components failure. It cannot be totally eliminated, but its intensity can be reduced by using new alloys, corrosion inhibitors or protective films, the selection of appropriate materials for particular applications, and coatings deposited onto the metal surface, especially in aggressive environments. Protective thin film polymeric organic and inorganic coatings are usually used to protect carbon steel against aqueous corrosive ions such as Cl− and H+ [1]. However, all coatings based on macromolecules are permeable to oxygen and water during their service life and in some cases the diffusion of water and oxygen through the polymeric film is several times greater than the minimum amount required to initiate the corrosion of metallic substrate [2]. The incorporation of nanomaterial as inorganic fillers is one of the most effective methods used to enhance anti-corrosion property of polymeric coatings [3]. The interactions between organic materials are increased and the barrier properties of the host polymeric coating are also improved. Nanoparticle-containing coatings possess outstanding physical, mechanical and thermal properties [4]. Various available nanoparticles such as silica, titanium oxide, zirconia, silver, magnetitite, nanoclay and their derivatives are widely used [5,6,7,8,9,10]. These unique properties, together with relatively low material cost, add a great deal of interest toward the commercialization of inorganic-based nanocomposites [11]. It is well known that the properties of these materials; however, greatly depend on the quality of the nanoparticle dispersion in the polymer composites and on the nanoparticle content [12].

The strategy of intercalation or encapsulation of corrosion inhibitors in micro/nanostructured hosting systems has attracted considerable interest among corrosion scientists and material engineers. The focus of this paper will be on nanostructured materials dispersed in polymer matrices that work as reservoirs of corrosion inhibitors. The aims are based mainly on the mechanism of the active agent release, finalizing with some remarks on the lines of research for development of multifunctional corrosion inhibitors or coatings. Nanostructured thin film coatings are interesting because of their good properties, such as chemical stability and ability to provide effective protection to metal substrate, resistance to oxidation and wear, high refractive index, high dielectric constant, good antibacterial and photo-electrochemical properties [13,14]. It is well known that the effectiveness of corrosion inhibitors is related to the extent to which they adsorb and cover the metal surface. Adsorption depends on the structure of the inhibitor, on the surface charge of the metal, and on the type of electrolyte [15]. It is well known that the iron metal forms self-adhering films when exposed to moisture and oxygen based on magnetite to act as protective film from corrosive environment but this film was unstable to acidic solutions and salts [16]. Modified magnetite nanoparticles were previously used as corrosion inhibitors [10,17]. However, the magnetite nanoparticles are unstable in air and easily agglomerated after synthesis. Surface coatings and functionalization could effectively solve these problems [18,19,20]. In core-shell processing, nanometer-scale monodispersed magnetite particles were physically or chemically adsorbed onto a polymer particle of micrometer size. Moreover, the heterogeneous polymerization of acrylate monomer with oleic acid-modified magnetite particle [21], the suspension polymerization of polystyrene with ferrofluid [22], or the encapsulation of magnetite through a microemulsion process [23] were all used to prepare monodisperse magnetite composites. A template emulsion synthesis technique has recently been developed that uses solvent evaporation to produce highly uniform micrometer-size magnetic particles from ferrofluids [24]. In this technique, hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles are suspended in a volatile hydrophobic solvent and form an emulsion in a nonionic surfactant solution. Particles that are highly uniform in size have been produced by exposing this emulsion to a defined shear force that produces droplets of highly uniform size. Unfortunately, the size of the droplets was limited by the shear technique used, and the resulting particles were reversibly assembled through hydrophobic interactions. In this article, we describe a novel emulsion-templated, radical initiated polymerization for the formation of magnetite nanogel composites. The objective of the present article is to use a crosslinked polymer as shell to encapsulate more superparamagnetic magnetite as core to produce uniform thin films on steel surfaces. This will provide advantages over using linear polymer as shell which cannot provide good protection from acidic solutions for both magnetite and steel [10]. Moreover, the use of crosslinked polymers can control the sizes of both magnetite and nanogels. In this article, in order to improve the corrosion inhibition of carbon steel magnetite nanostructured composite thin films were used as corrosion inhibitors. The corrosion resistance of coated carbon steel was examined in acid chloride media by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and polarization measurements.

2. Results and Discussion

In this work, the AA-Na/coated magnetite nanogels are synthesized through two steps. The magnetite nanoparticles are firstly prepared by a modified co-precipitation method [17]. Then the magnetite nanoparticles are used to synthesize the AA-Na/coated magnetite composite nanoparticles through the modified method reported in [20]. In this respect, the object of the present work is to provide a process for preparing superparamagnetic magnetite (Fe3O4) with nanosized particles and derivatives to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, especially a process which only requires one iron compound as starting precursor, a limited number of additional chemical reagents, and a process which can be carried out under simple reaction conditions, preferably at room temperature, with easy work-up of the obtained product. A highly pure and magnetic magnetite shall thus be provided. In this respect, magnetite Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared according to the chemical Equation (1): 3 Fe

This reaction is the cheapest and most environmental friendly procedure and is based on the co-precipitation method, which involves the simultaneous precipitation of Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions after reaction of KI with FeCl3. The produced iodine was not separated during the reaction to produce a hydrophilic magnetite surface after precipitation in basic aqueous media in the presence of PVP as stabilizer. The stabilization of hydrophilic magnetite particles is based on a steric stabilization mechanism, whereby the amide groups of PVP interact with the OH groups of the hydrophilic magnetite. On the other hand, hydrophobic magnetite can be prepared by the same procedure after PVP is replaced by oleic acid as stabilizer.

The preparation of the nanogel composites containing dispersed iron-oxide nanoparticles can be achieved by preparing a stable suspension of magnetite nanoparticles in sodium acrylate monomer. In addition, the hydrophilicity/hydrophibicity of the magnetite nanoparticles surface may affect their compatibility and dispersability with the hydrophilic poly(sodium acrylate). This may lead to encapsulation of inorganic particles inside or on the surface layer of latex particles. Non-functionalized magnetite nanoparticles are hydrophilic due to the presence of surface –OH groups. These groups are formed due to the hydration of the nanoparticles surfaces’ during the synthesis in the aqueous solution [25]. Long-chain fatty acids are usually employed to hydrophobize the magnetite nanoparticles’ surfaces [26]. These fatty acids are bonded to the iron-oxide nanoparticles’ surfaces through a coordinative bond between the carboxyl group of the acid and the iron cations [27]. The mixing of these particles in the presence of sodium acrylate can be achieved by using the microemulsion technique as illustrated in Scheme 1. In this respect, it is important to know which kind of microemulsion system is being considered when using the term “microemulsion”. In this work, the aim directed to encapsulate lipophilic magnetite components in a form that can be conveniently dispersed into aqueous media. We focus on oil-in-water microemulsions that consist of small spheroid particles comprised of oil and surfactant molecules dispersed within water. This type of colloidal dispersion has also been referred to as a “droplet microemulsion” or a “swollen micelle system” [28,29]. In this technique, hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles are suspended in a volatile hydrophobic solvent and form an emulsion in a nonionic surfactant solution as illustrated in the experimental section. The presence of hydrophilic magnetite and AA-Na can assist to form hydrophobic bilayer micelle to produce droplets of highly uniform size as illustrated in the Scheme 1B. The fatty acid tail, which is oriented outward from the iron-oxide nanoparticles’ surfaces, provides the hydrophobic character of the nanoparticles. From among the different long-chain fatty acids, oleic acid is the one mainly used for the preparation of stable suspensions of iron-oxide nanoparticles in non-polar solvents such as hydrocarbons [26]. After the evaporation of the solvent, the magnetite nanoparticles aggregate to form monodispersed micrometer-size assemblies [20] as described in Scheme 1C. The droplet particles were reversibly assembled through hydrophobic interactions and help form crosslinked AA-Na-magnetite composite. The template of the magnetic core of the microparticle was first formed through the creation of an emulsion in which the hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles and ABIN initiator were distributed in the hexane phase. Dispersed solid particles were formed by removal of the oil phase by evaporation. The resulting microparticles were exposed to a mixture of MBA, TEMED and sodium acrylate to form crosslinked sodium acrylate nanogel using radical initiated polymerization.

Scheme 1

Preparation of AA-Na/magnetite composite nanoparticles.

2.1. Characterization of AA-Na/Magnetite Composite

FTIR analysis was used to illustrate the chemical structures of the prepared nano- and micro-particles. In this respect, the IR spectra of hydrophilic, hydrophobic and AA-Na magnetite particles are represented in Figure 1a–c, respectively. It was observed that the IR spectra of all samples clearly reveal the presence of strong IR absorption bands between 400 and 700 cm−1, which are the characteristic absorption peaks of Fe-O vibrations related to Fe3O4. Magnetite formation can be confirmed through the presence of bands at 584 and 637 cm−1 assigned to the stretching and torsional vibration modes of the magnetite. In both magnetite coated phases bands in the near IR region appear at higher frequency than previously reported, where the characteristic absorption band for Fe-O in bulk Fe3O4 was appeared at 570 and 375 cm−1 wavenumber [30]. In present cases the Fe-O band shifts towards higher wavenumber (584 and 637 cm−1). This may be due to the breaking of the large number of bonds for surface atoms, resulting in rearrangement of localized electrons on the particle surface and the surface bond force constant increases as Fe3O4 is reduced to nanoscale dimensions, so the absorption bands shift to higher wavenumber [30]. To understand the adsorption mechanism of the PVP on the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Figure 1a), bands at 3350, 1690, 1430 cm−1 attributed to NH stretching, CO amide stretching and C-N stretching, respectively, indicated that PVP is adsorbed on the surface of magnetite. Figure 1b shows the FTIR spectrum for Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with oleic acid. The intense peak at 1741 cm−1 was derived from the existence of the C=O stretch and the band at 1239 cm−1 indicated the presence of the C–O stretch of oleic acid. The extremely broad O–H absorption stretching appeared in the region from 3100 to 3600 cm−1. The oleic acid surfactant molecules in the adsorbed state onto magnetite were subjected to the field of the solid surface. As a result, the characteristic oleic acid bands are shifted to a lower frequency region indicating that the hydrocarbon chains in the monolayer surrounding iron nanoparticles are in a closed pack crystalline state [31]. Figure 1c shows two sharp bands at 2924 and 2854 cm−1 that are attributed to the asymmetric CH2 stretch and the symmetric CH2 stretch, respectively. Figure 1b,c indicated that the characteristic C=O band (present at 1712 cm−1 for pure oleic and AA-Na) disappeared with the appearance of two new bands at 1638 and 1618 cm−1 characteristic of asymmetric and symmetric carboxylate stretching. These results revealed that oleic acid and AA-Na were chemisorbed onto the Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a carboxylate with both oxygen atoms coordinated symmetrically to Fe atoms. The appearance of a band at 3350 cm−1 (NH group of MBA) in Figure 1c indicated the crosslinking of AA-Na with the MBA crosslinker.

Figure 1

FTIR spectra of (a) hydrophilic magnetite coated with PVP; (b) hydrophobic magnetite coated with oleic acid and (c) AA-Na/magnetite composite.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to characterize the nanocomposites. The AA-Na/magnetite prepared with either hydrophilic magnetite and hydrophobic magnetite consisted of simple core-shell nanoparticles where the polymer shell is clearly visible (Figure 2). The TEM pictures showed a good distribution and a small size of the nanoparticles. TEM images of hydrophilic magnetite stabilized with PVP (Figure 2a) show defined magnetite nanoparticles, but with a strong tendency to form clusters (aggregation). The hydrophobic magnetite stabilized with oleic acid nanoparticles analyzed by TEM showed a spherical shape with a narrow size distribution (Figure 2b). The presence of magnetite in the AA-Na polymeric matrix was identified by the black dots over the grey dots as shown in Figure 2c. Another feature present in Figure 2c, and in many of the other TEM images of the polymer AA-Na/magnetite coated nanoparticles, is that the particles are not in contact with their nearest neighbors. During preparation of the TEM sample, solvent-dispersed particles with swollen shells may be deposited in a close-packed array on the carbon support. Solvent evaporation causes the polymer shells to contract and withdraw toward the cores which retain their relative positions. The spacing between two adjacent cores reveals the thickness of the solvent-swollen shells and provides evidence that the shell is indeed composed of polymeric material, which is tightly bound to the core [32]. The images in Figure 2b and c confirm the formation of monodisperse nanoparticles with an average size of 12.5 and 23 nm, respectively. These data confirm that the proposed scheme is an effective method for the preparation of encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles. Figure 2c shows magnetite as black spherical dots with approximately 15%–30% of the AA-Na composite size. The thickness of the shells ranged from 10.3 to 23.7 nm.

Figure 2

TEM micrographs of (a) hydrophilic magnetite coated with PVP; (b) hydrophobic magnetite coated with oleic acid and (c) AA-Na/magnetite composite.

The size of polymer AA-Na/ magnetite coated nanoparticles was measured by DLS and is represented in Figure 3, and the mean size obtained was 20.6 ± 5.5 nm with a PI of 0.479 ± 0.124. The particle size was consistent with the size of the clusters estimated from the TEM pictures.

Figure 3

DLS of AA-Na/magnetite composite nanoparticles.

The X-ray diffraction (XRD) of of AA-Na/magnetite composite and their diffraction patterns are shown in Figure 4. It is clear from graphs that the composite was formed by the appearance of the appearing the modest peak at 20 nm which represented the formation of semi-crystalline crosslinked AA-Na polymer. The peaks at 20 equal to 29.9°, 35.3°, 43.2°, 62.7° and 76.3° can be indexed as (220), (311), (400), (440) and (511) lattice planes of magnetite, respectively [cared code 00-002-1035].

Figure 4

XRD of AA-Na/magnetite composite nanoparticles.

The magnetic hysteresis loops measured in a powder state for synthesized AA-Na/Fe3O4 composite is represented in Figure 5. The magnetic properties of AA-Na/Fe3O4 composite such as saturation magnetization (Ms), which is the state reached when an increase in applied external magnetic field H, coercivity (Hc) is a measure of the reverse field required to drive the magnetization to zero after being saturated, and remnant magnetization (Mr), it is the amount of magnetization that remains after the magnetic field is removed, were measured. The Ms of AA-Na/Fe3O4 composite particles is about 33 emu/g, which is much lower than that of pure Fe3O4 (78.6 emu/g) [33] due to the incorporation of the AA-Na shell. The Hc and Mr values of AA-Na/Fe3O4 are 0.15 (emu/g) and 8.55 (Oe), respectively. Low Mr and Hc values can be ascribed to rapid Neel relaxation of nanoparticles. In addition, low Hc values give an indication of the superparamgnetism of the prepared nanoparticles. It is observed that the samples rise to maximum magnetization very rapidly, and this observation is similar to that of superparamagnetic nanocomposites at room temperature reported in the literature [34].

Figure 5

Hysteresis loop of the AA-Na/magnetite composite nanoparticles.

2.2. Potentiodynamic Polarization Measurements

The potentiodynamic polarization curves of steel in 1 M HCl solution with various concentrations of AA-Na/magnetite composites are shown in Figure 6. The electrochemical parameters, such as cathodic and anodic Tafel slope, corrosion potential (Ecorr), and corrosion current density (icorr), were calculated from these curves and quoted in Table 1. The inhibition efficiency IE% was calculated from polarization measurements according to the relation Equation (2): IE% = [1 − (i where icorr(uninh) and icor(inh) are corrosion current density values in the absence and presence of inhibitor, respectively. The values of IE% were calculated at different inhibitor concentrations and were presented in Table 1.

Figure 6

Polarization curves for steel in 1 M HCl solution containing different AA-Na/magnetite composites concentrations.

Table 1

Inhibition efficiency values for steel in 1 M HCl with different concentrations of AA-Na/magnetite composites calculated by polarization and EIS methods.

Polarization Method						EIS Method
	Ba (mV)	Bc (mV)	Ecorr (V)	icorr mA/cm2	IE%	Rct Ohm	IE%
Blank	147.00	141.00	−0.4034	7.45	_____	1.80	____
50 ppm	74.80	86.70	−0.4683	0.159	97	983	99.1
100	89.54	109.93	−0.4814	0.132	98	1158	99.4
250	91.27	111.41	−0.4849	0.067	99	1264	99.8

As it can be seen from Figure 6, the addition of AA-Na/magnetite composites to the aggressive solution both reduces anodic metal dissolution and also retards cathodic hydrogen evolution reactions. This result is indicative of the adsorption of inhibitor molecules on the active sites of steel. The inhibition efficiency increases with increasing inhibitor concentration. The presence of AA-Na/magnetite composites shifts both the anodic and cathodic branches to lower corrosion current density values and thus causes a remarkable decrease in the corrosion rate. The values of both ba and bc change obviously upon addition of AA-Na/magnetite composites, which indicates that AA-Na/magnetite composites are adsorbed at both anodic and cathodic sites [35]. It is also seen clearly from Figure 6 and Table 1 that, the presence of AA-Na/magnetite composites in 1 M HCl solution resulted in shift of the corrosion potential towards more negative potentials with respect to that obtained in the absence of inhibitor. These results suggest that the AA-Na/magnetite composites AA-Na/magnetite composites can be classified as a mixed-type corrosion inhibitor. The inhibition effect can be explained on the basis of a reduction in the reaction area on the surface of the corroding steel surface [36]. It can be concluded that, both cathodic and anodic reactions are drastically retarded by the addition of AA-Na/magnetite composites in 1.0 M HCl.

2.3. EIS Measurements

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a powerful tool in the study of corrosion process. Figure 7 shows the obtained Nyquist plots of steel in 1 M HCl solution in the absence and presence of different concentrations of AA-Na/magnetite composites. The addition of the AA-Na/magnetite composites to HCl is accompanied by a significant change in the impedance of the inhibited system. It is evident that the highest inhibitor concentration of AA-Na/magnetite composites (250 ppm) gives rise to much larger semicircle diameter than other two lower concentrations of AA-Na/magnetite composites. It is apparent from Figure 7 that, the Nyquist plot of steel yields a slightly depressed semi-circular shape. This behavior indicates that the corrosion of steel in 1 M HCl solution is mainly controlled by a charge transfer process [37,38,39,40]. The deviation from an ideal semicircle can be explained on the basis of frequency dispersion as well as the surface inhomogenities and mass transport resistance [41]. It is commonly accepted to employ the distributed circuit elements in the equivalent circuits as a constant phase element (CPE). This describes the distribution of relaxation times as a result of inhomogenities present at a micro- or nano-level, such as the surface roughness/porosity, adsorption, or diffusion [42] and has a non-integer power dependence on the frequency [43,44].

Figure 7

Nyquist diagram for steel in 1 M HCl solution containing different AA-Na/magnetite composites concentrations showing experimental and fit data.

The equivalent circuit depicted in Figure 8 is employed to analyze the impedance spectra, where Rs represents the solution resistance; Rct denotes the charge-transfer resistance, and a CPE.

Figure 8

Equivalent circuit used for fitting the impedance data in 1 M HCl solution.

The impedance of a CPE is described by the expression: Z where Y0 is the magnitude of the CPE, ω is the angular frequency, j is the imaginary root and n is the deviation parameter of the CPE (−1 ≤ n ≤ 1). The inhibition efficiency (IE%) based on the charge-transfer resistance is calculated by: IE% = [1 − (R° where Rct and R°ct are the charge-transfer resistance with and without inhibitor, respectively. The inhibition efficiency increases with increasing inhibitor concentration as clear from the data presented in Table 1. The adsorption of inhibitor molecules at the steel/solution interface results is accompanied by an increase of Rct, which decreases the corrosion rate of steel.

2.4. Adsorption Isotherm

Basic information about the adsorption process between the AA-Na/magnetite and the steel surface can be provided by adsorption isotherms. It was reported previously that the adsorption process depends on the inhibitor structure, electrochemical potential, and temperature [45]. The surface coverage values (θ) were tested graphically to allow fitting of a suitable adsorption isotherm including Langmuir, Frumkin, Temkin. The plots of Cinh/θ against Cinh for AA-Na/magnetite give a straight line (Figure 9) with an almost unit slope (1.01) indicating that the AA-Na/magnetite obey the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, which can be expressed by the following equation [46]: C where Kads is the equilibrium constant of the adsorption process. The strong correlations (R2 = 0.9999) confirm the validity of this approach. The standard free energy of adsorption (ΔG°ads) can be calculated from the equation [47,48]: Δ where R is the gas constant (8.314 J mol−1 K−1) and T is the absolute temperature (K). The calculated value of the standard free energy of adsorption (ΔG°ads) is −44.12 kJ mol−1. The negative values of ΔG°ads indicate the spontaneity of the adsorption process and stability of the adsorbed film on the steel surface [49]. It was established that the existence of electrostatic interaction between charged metal surface and charged organic molecules in the bulk of the solution may be attributed to a small value of ΔG°ads ≤ −20 kJ mol−1. The high value of ΔG°ads ≥ −40 kJ mol−1 involves charge sharing or charge transfer between the metal surface and organic molecules to form a coordinate type of bond [48,49]. The ΔG°ads value of AA-Na/magnetite (about −44.12 kJ mol−1) represents the chemical interactions between AA-Na/magnetite and the steel surface [50,51].

Figure 9

Langmuir adsorption plot of steel in 1 M HCl solution containing different concentrations of AA-Na/magnetite.

3. Experimental Section

3.1. Materials

Anhydrous ferric chloride, potassium iodide and ammonium hydroxide (25%) aqueous solution used as reagent for preparation of magnetite and purchased from Aldrich Chemicals Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). Oleic acid (OA), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) with molecular weight 40,000 g/mol, N,N-azobisisobutyronitrile (ABIN), N,N'-dimethyl formamide, acetone, N,N,N,N-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED), hexane, Triton X100, decanol, acrylic acid were obtained from Sigma Chemicals (St Louis, MO, USA). All reagents were used as received, and reagent-grade water was prepared with a UVO ultrapurification system (Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA).

Sodium acrylate monomer (AA-Na) was prepared as follows: NaOH (12.01 g, 0.3003 mol) and water (10 mL) were mixed with a magnetic stirring bar, and the mixture was stirred to dissolution. This NaOH solution was carefully added to a 250 mL beaker containing AA (28.03 g, 0.3893 mol) with continuous stirring. The mixture was allowed to cool, acetone (50 mL) was added and the precipitate was vacuum-filtered. The wet AA-Na was first air-dried and subsequently dried in an oven at 60 °C for 12–15 h to obtain 27.31 g (96.8% yield) of AA-Na. Tests were performed with steel rod of the following composition (wt%): 0.14% C, 0.57% Mn, 0.21% P, 0.15% S, 0.37% Si, 0.06% V, 0.03% Ni, 0.03% Cr and the remainder Fe. Working electrode was cut from a steel rod and mounted in a glass tube with surface area of 0.785 cm2 that served as working electrode (WE).

3.2. Nanoparticles Synthesis

Hydrophilic magnetite nanoparticles were prepared according to a previous modified method [17]. Aqueous solution of ferric chloride was prepared by dissolving anhydrous FeCl3 (40 g, 0.24 mol) in distilled water (300 mL) to prepare an aqueous solution A. Further, potassium iodide (13.2 g, 0.08 mol) is dissolved in distilled water (50 mL) to prepare an aqueous solution B. The aqueous solutions A and B are then mixed together at room temperature, stirred and allowed to reach equilibrium for one hour while bubbling with pure N2 to keep oxygen free throughout the preparation procedure. The solution is then heated at of 70 °C, and hydrolyzed using 200 mL of 25% ammonia solution which is added dropwise with stirring while bubbling with pure N2 to keep the mixture oxygen free throughout the preparation procedure. Mixing is continued until complete precipitation of black magnetite is achieved. The reaction was continued at the reaction temperature with stirring for 4 h. The magnetite nanoparticles were dialysized against water in 12,000–14,000 Da tubing (Spectrum, Rancho Dominguez, CA, USA) and filtered with a 1 µm polycarbonate membrane (Nuclepore, Whatman, Florham Park, NJ, USA). The precipitate is then left to settle washed with distilled water and ethanol, dried at vacuum at 30 °C (the precipitate should dry without heating) and weighed. The percentage yield of the reaction is 95.5%.

These nanoparticles were made hydrophobic by coating with oleic acid. Oleic acid-stabilized Fe3O4 nanoparticles can be prepared using a same procedure in the presence of oleic acid as stabilizer. In this respect, a solution (40 g) of anhydrous FeCl3 in distilled water (300 mL) containing PVP (3 g) to prepare an aqueous solution A. Further, potassium iodide (13.2 g, 0.08 mol) is dissolved in distilled water (50 mL) to prepare an aqueous solution B. The aqueous solutions A and B are then mixed together at room temperature, stirred and allowed to reach equilibrium for one hour while bubbling with pure N2 to keep oxygen free throughout the preparation procedure. Oleic acid (3 mL) diluted into ethanol (100 mL) was added after heating the reaction mixture at temperature 50 °C under vigorous stirring, then NH4OH (25%, 200 mL) was added dropwise to the above solution. After that, the reaction mixture was stirred for another 0.5 h at 70 °C. Finally, oleic acid-stabilized Fe3O4 nanoparticle was separated from the mixture by ultracentrifugation and washed with water three times and with ethanol two times. The hydrophobic magnetite nanoparticles were suspended in hexane at 5% (w/v).

3.3. Preparation of Poly(sodium acrylate)/Magnetite Nanocomposites

Poly(sodium acrylate)/magnetite nanocomposites (AA-Na/magnetite) can be prepared using in an inverse w/o microemulsions using ABIN as initiator and N,N,N,N-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) as accelerator. The typical w/o microemulsion composition was 61.7 wt. % hexane containing 1% (w/v) nanoparticle/hexane solution and BP 0.01%, 14.5 wt. % Triton X100, 4% wt. % decanol, 14.18 wt. % H2O containing 5% (w/v) hydrophilic magnetite nanoparticle/ water solution and 5.62 wt. % sodium acrylate. The microemulsion system was firstly sonicated for 1 h where the samples were submerged in ice-cooled bath. The hexane was allowed to evaporate overnight at room temperature on a rotary evaporator. The dispersed nanoparticles were diluted with aqueous solution (20 mL) containing 5.62 wt. % of sodium acrylate with 0.03% TEMED and 0.1% N,N-methylene-bisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker. Polymerization was carried out in a 100 mL glass reactor equipped with a nitrogen inlet and the reaction was performed at 30 °C with constant stirring speed at 500 rpm and for 24 h. The nanoparticles were collected on a permanent magnet, rinsed with water three times, and excess methanol was used to remove the adsorbed Triton from the particles. The particles were air dried and stored at 4 °C.

3.4. Characterization

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis of the samples was performed using a Spectrum One FTIR spectrometer (Perkin-Bhaskar-Elmer Co., Boston, MA, USA). The morphology and structure of the prepared magnetic nanoparticles were determined using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). HR-TEM images of the nanocomposites were recorded using a JEM-2100 F (JEOL, Tokyo, Japan) at an acceleration voltage of 150 kV. The TEM images were obtained at 25 °C with a TEM-100XS instrument. Particle size measurements were performed using a dynamic light scattering (DLS) instrument (Particle Sizing Systems). X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns were measured using a D/max 2550 V X-ray diffractometer (X’Pert, Philips, Eindhoven, The Netherlands). Magnetic properties of the prepare magnetite nanomaterials were analyzed using a vibrating sample magnetometer (LDJ9600, VSM, LDJ Electronics Co., Troy, MI, USA).

3.5. Electrochemical Measurements

Electrochemical experiments were carried out in a conventional three-electrode cell with platinum as counter electrode (CE), a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) as a reference electrode and steel as working electrode (WE). The electrochemical measurements, including impedance, were carried out with a Solartron 1470E potentiostat/galvanostat system (Solartron, Armstrong Mall, Farnborough, Hampshire, UK) with a Solartron 1455A frequency response analyzer. The electrochemical impedance spectra were measured at 5 mV AC amplitude over a frequency range of 0.01 Hz–10 kHz. The surface of working electrode was mechanically abraded using different grades of emery papers, prior to use. Multistate software was used to run the tests, collect and evaluate the experimental data. The impedance data were analyzed and fitted with the simulation ZView 3.3c, equivalent circuit software.

New AA-Na/magnetite nanoparticles were prepared with either hydrophilic magnetite or hydrophobic magnetite and consisted of simple core-shell nanoparticles where the polymer shell of AA-Na is clearly visible.

The inhibition efficiency of steel in 1 M HCl increases on increasing the AA-Na/magnetite composites concentration. The excellent inhibition efficiency was attributed to the adsorption of the inhibitor molecules and formation of protective film on the steel surface.

The potentiodynamic polarization results indicated that the AA-Na/magnetite composites inhibit both anodic metal dissolution and also cathodic hydrogen evolution reactions and act as a mixed-type of inhibitor.

EIS data showed that charge transfer resistance increases with the increase of AA-Na/magnetite composites concentration and the corrosion reaction is controlled by charge transfer processes.