Polymeric surfactants as ideal substitutes for sustainable corrosion protection: A perspective on colloidal and interface properties

Advances in surfactants for photolithography

The advancement of dense integrated circuits requires the miniaturization of feature sizes, which has driven continuous progress in photolithography. However, there are still some challenges in achieving a high patterning resolution for photolithography such as surface contaminants, defect formation, pattern collapse, etc. Surfactants have been extensively investigated for several decades as essential wet chemicals to resolve these issues due to their outstanding performance in reducing surface tension, enhancing wettability, and improving solubility. Recently, it has been revealed that surfactants with diverse chemical structures can exhibit distinct functionalities at various stages of the photolithography process, yet comprehensive discussions on their structures, performance, and mechanisms remain limited. In this review, we first address the structure-performance relationships for anionic, cationic, nonionic, and zwitterionic surfactants and then provide a general introduction to photolithography from a historical and technological perspective. Specifically, various surfactants used as additives in cleaners, developers, etchants, and strippers for photolithography are thoroughly summarized and discussed, where their key parameters, used concentrations, and underlying mechanisms have been introduced to provide a valuable guide for future research. Finally, we propose three strategic directions for the development of innovative surfactants to address emerging challenges and drive sustainable progress in photolithography: (1) high-performance surfactants, (2) switchable surfactants, and (3) bio-based surfactants.

Investigation of biodegradable surfactant as a corrosion inhibitor to the cold rolled steel in the membrane separation device process

The membrane process is an effective way to realize resource reutilization. Most membrane devices are made of cold-roll steel (CRS), which is easy to corrode when operating in acid conditions. Herein, the biodegradable surfactant dodecyl dimethyl betaine (BS-12) was used as the inhibitor to protect the CRS in the trichloroacetic acid (TCA) solution. The long-term stability membrane tests showed that adding BS-12 will not harm the membrane performance. The weight loss experiments proved that adding BS-12 with trace amount (10 mg·L-1) endowed the CRS with good inhibition efficiency (95.3 %). The electrochemical tests indicated that the mixed inhibitor- BS-12 works by inhibiting the anode and cathode simultaneously, and the polarization resistance increased to 21 times. The SEM, AFM, and CLSM tests proved that adding BS-12 enabled the CRS surface to remain stable. The FTIR and XPS tests proved that BS-12 adsorbed on the CRS surface via physical and chemical adsorption. The theoretical calculations proved the horizontal adsorption of BS-12 on the CRS surface and the existence of the electron transfer within the BS-12 and CRS. The BS-12 showed great potential in the CRS inhibition of the membrane separation and purification processing.

Helmet-Roled Molecules Carrying Double Metronidazole Frameworks and Phenyl Ring for Strengthening Adsorption and Anticorrosion on Mild Steel

This study prepared new helmet-roled molecules (HMs) carrying metronidazole frameworks and a phenyl ring for strengthening adsorption and anticorrosion on mild steel. The adsorption of the HMs on the copper surface was understood by material simulation computation. Furthermore, the surface analysis experiments suggest that the studied molecules could be adsorbed to a mild steel surface through the chemical coordination bonding. The remarkable corrosion resistance of the HMs for mild steel in HCl was surveyed by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy at 298 K. The HMs including two metronidazole skeletons displayed the stronger corrosion inhibition effect on mild steel than the HM1 bearing one single metronidazole part (the corrosion inhibition efficiency, HM3, 98.03%, HM2, 95.14%, HM1, 88.72%). The results presented in this study provided an efficient strategy to develop new clinical medicine-based corrosion inhibitors for metal in acid medium through molecular preconstruction.

Doping heteroatoms to form multiple hydrogen bond sites for enhanced interfacial reconstruction and separations

Interfacial challenges in unconventional oil extraction include heavy oil-water-solid multiphase separation and corrosion inhibition. Herein, a novel strategy based on interfacial hydrogen bonding reconstruction is proposed for constructing multifunctional interfacially active materials (MIAMs) to address multi-interfacial separation needs. A simple one-pot method is applied to successfully synthesize four different MIAM varieties, integrating site groups (-NH2, OSO, -COOH, and Si-O-Si) with multiple hydrogen bonds (HBs) into allyl polyether chains. The results indicate that all synthesized MIAMs excel in demulsification, detergency, and corrosion inhibition simultaneously, even at 25 °C. Their dehydration efficiency for different water-in-oil emulsions (even heavy oil emulsion) surpasses 99.9 % even at 16 °C, showing their excellent energy-saving potential for field applications. Furthermore, they demonstrate effective, nondestructive static cleaning (up to 86 %) of adhered oil from solid surfaces at 25 °C and provide corrosion inhibition effects (up to 92.09 %) on mild steel immersed in saturated brine. Mechanistic tests reveal that incorporating multiple HB sites in MIAMs dramatically enhances their effectiveness in interfacial separations. Based on these findings, an HB-dominated noncovalent interaction reconstruction strategy is tentatively proposed to develop advanced materials for low-carbon, efficient interfacial separations.

Synergistic effect of KI on the corrosion inhibition of a poly(diallylammonium chloride)-based cyclocopolymer containing bis-cationic motifs for mild steel corrosion in 20% formic acid

This study entails the syntheses of a homopolymer, poly(diallylammonium chloride) (3), and copolymers (8a-c) containing hydrophilic/hydrophobic pendants and their role in mitigating mild steel in aggressive 20% formic acid, a type of corrosion that is not frequently discussed in the literature. The synthesized homopolymer and copolymers were characterized by FTIR, NMR, viscometry, and TGA. Inhibitor 8b was found to be the most potent, with 81.8% inhibition efficiency (IE) registered via the potentiodynamic polarization method for 100 ppm of inhibitor concentration at 30 °C. Inhibitor 8b, mixed with 2 mmol KI, showed more than 90% IE for a meager 1 ppm inhibitor concentration. For a synergism of 50 ppm inhibitor and 2 mmol KI, the IE reached a high value of 99.1%. The synergism was so good that it helped the inhibitor retain ∼100% of its original IE even after a 24 h weight loss study at 60 °C. The adsorption isotherm study showed that 8b followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and adsorbed via chemisorption. A very high value (2.48 × 105 L mol-1) of the equilibrium adsorption constant (Kads) indicated strong adsorption. XPS and SEM surface studies provided evidence of the inhibitor found on the metal surface. Some toxicological parameters, such as LC50, bioaccumulation factor, and developmental toxicity, have been measured computationally. A brief mechanistic insight into how the inhibitors functioned has been offered along with the DFT study.

Surfactants as biodegradable sustainable inhibitors for corrosion control in diverse media and conditions: A comprehensive review

BACKGROUND

Corrosion is a challenging and potentially harmful process that involves the continuing, impulsive deterioration of metallic structures via reactions involving environmental components and electro- or chemical processes. To inhibit corrosion, various additives are added. Traditional additives, on the other hand, contain environmentally hazardous substances. Surfactants are less expensive, easier to manufacture, and have high inhibitory efficacy and low toxicity compared to standard corrosion inhibitors. They are often employed as corrosion inhibitors to protect metallic materials against corrosion.

METHODS

Surfactant molecules' amphiphilic nature promotes adsorption at surfaces such as the metal/metal oxide-water interface. Surfactant adsorption on metals and metal oxides forms a barrier that can prevent corrosion.

SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS

This review of surfactants as corrosion inhibitors aims to offer a systemic evaluation of various surfactant physical and chemical properties, surfactant influence in corrosion inhibition, and surfactant used in corrosion inhibition that can be used to enhance the efficacy of surfactant use as corrosion inhibitors in a variety of environments. The effect of several parameters on the potential to suppress corrosion of surfactant molecule series is also discussed here.