Copper substrates deposed on a gold screen-printed electrode were covered with different aryl diazonium salts by electrodeposition at 0.25 mA for 30 or 300 s. Seven compounds were investigated: 4-aminophenylacetic acid, 4-aminophenethyl alcohol, 4-fluoroaniline, 4-(heptadecafluorooctyl)aniline, 4-aminoantipyrine, 4-(4-aminophenyl)butyric acid and 3,4,5-trimethoxyaniline. Quantitative monitoring of the electrodeposition process was carried out by electrogravimetry using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The electrodeposited mass varies between 26 ng/cm² for 4-fluoroaniline formed during 30 s to 442 ng/cm² for 4-phenylbutyric acid formed during 300 s. The corrosion inhibition properties of aryl-modified layers have been studied in buffer citrate with pH = 3 or 3.5% NaCl solutions using electrochemical noise (ECN) and Tafel potentiodynamic polarization measurements. A corrosion inhibiting efficiency up to 90% was found. The highest corrosion inhibition was obtained for 4-(4-aminophenyl)butyric acid and the lowest for 4-fluoroaniline. A relation between the inhibition efficiency and the chemical nature of the substituents in the protective layer was found.
Keywords: Tafel polarization; copper; diazonium salts; electrochemical noise; quartz crystal microbalance.