Experimental and theoretical study of polysaccharides extracted from prickly pear nopales Pulp (PPUN) of Opuntia ficus-indica as corrosion inhibitors

Corrosion causes massive damage to our equipment and buildings, wasting billions of dollars every year. Identifying a workable answer to this problem is a priority. Scientists have begun using inhibitors derived from renewable resources and natural ingredients to have a minor possible detrimental impact on the environment. Though many synthetic structures exist to prevent corrosion during the acid pickling process, the persistence of the problem has prompted modern corrosion scientists to investigate this field further by studying natural products with increasingly intriguing moieties for practical applications and their applied capabilities against corrosion. Electrochemical studies have been used to fully explore the inhibitory effects of Pulp (PPUN) from prickly pear nopales of Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) on mild steel corrosion in 1 M HCl solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy were used to investigate the surface of mild steel (AFM). The XPS method was used to learn about the mechanism of inhibition happening on mild steel. Through its absorption on the metal surface and its inhibition of the active corrosion site, the inhibitor is shown by a potentiodynamic polarization study to slow down both cathodic and anodic processes. The adsorption of PPUN on metal was demonstrated by a shift in impedance characteristics (charge transfer resistance Rt and double layer capacitance Cdl). The PPUN and product film have been analyzed using SEM and AFM. The computed values correspond well with those from the experiments. Based on MDS results, Galacturonic acid and Glucose constituents adsorb tightly on the carbon steel cluster surface.