Triazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide as a novel corrosion inhibitor for steel in HCl and H2SO4 solutions

Research highlights: → Triazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (TBTB) is found to be a novel good inhibitor for the corrosion of CRS in 1.0 M HCl and 0.5 M H2SO4 solutions. → The comparison of inhibition performance in HCl and that in H2SO4 are discussed in detail. → The corrosion inhibition is satisfactorily discussed by adsorption mode and thermodynamic parameter. → The electrochemical inhibitive mechanism is explained by potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results. → The adsorption of TBTB is presented. - Abstract: The inhibition effect of triazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (TBTB) on the corrosion of cold rolled steel (CRS) in 1.0 M HCl and 0.5 M H2SO4 solution was investigated for the first time by weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization curves, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods. The results show that TBTB is a very good inhibitor, and is more efficiency in 1.0 M HCl than 0.5 M H2SO4. The adsorption of TBTB on CRS surface obeys Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Polarization curves reveal that TBTB acts as a mixed-type inhibitor in both acids.