The inhibition effect of a Schiff base with several functional groups on the corrosion of aluminum in alkaline solution is studied by experimental techniques and density function theory (DFT) calculations. The Schiff base are characterized by 1HNMR, 13CNMR, FT-IR, and CHN elemental analysis. In addition, different electrochemical and corrosion techniques such as weight loss, tafel polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and optical microscopy images are performed to analyze the inhibiting performances. In the Tafel measurements the cathodic Tafel slopes values incurred small changes with increasing the inhibitor concentration, which revealed that the inhibitor was adsorbed on the aluminum surface. The inhibition efficiencies are calculated from weight loss measurement and electrochemical tests. The adsorption of the inhibitor onto the aluminum surface follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm with the free adsorption energy of 8.66 kJ mol1. The calculated adsorption energies and the amount of charge transfer obtained by DFT calculation revealed that corrosion inhibition effectively occurs with chemisorption, where new NeAl bonds are formed between of N atoms in azo (eN]Ne) group and Al surface atoms, which is confirmed from ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation.
