Effect of nano-grained structure on the interface behavior of pure copper in 0.01M KOH solution with chloride ion trace is investigated by various electrochemical techniques. Nano-grained structure was achieved by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) technique. Before any electrochemical measurements, microstructure was evaluated by means of optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM observations showed that nano-grains (with an average size of below 100 nm) appeared after eight passes of ARB. Polarization curves revealed that increasing chloride ion concentration leads to a decrease in the corrosion and pitting potentials of both annealed and nano-grained pure copper samples. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that chloride ion trace lowers passive film resistance and charge-transfer resistance in both annealed and nano-grained samples. Mott–Schottky analysis showed that the surface films formed on annealed and nano-grained samples in KOH solution with and without NaCl addition are of p-type semiconducting behavior. Moreover, this analysis showed that the acceptor density increases by increasing chloride ion concentration.
