LAUSR

Abstract An eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor is a target pursued by many corrosion researchers all the time. In this work, we studied the protective effect of Gardenia jasminoides fruits extract (GFE) for copper in 0.5 mol∙L─1 H2SO4 dependence upon multifarious tests and methods. It is obtained in electrochemical measurements that the maximum inhibition efficiency (η) of GFE exceeds 90% at different temperatures and η of 400 mg/L GFE is almost 93% at 298 K. The most appropriate model of GFE sorbing on Cu surface belongs to Langmuir adsorption. Both Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrates the bonding information. It is perceived that GFE is brilliantly capable of safeguarding Cu from eroding by the corrosion particles adopting scanning electron microscopy (SEM) method and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The anti-corrosion mechanism is further interpreted and comprehended utilizing quantum chemistry calculation and molecular dynamics simulation analysis.