The Influence of Thickness of Stearic Acid Self-Assembled Film on Its Protective Properties

Abstract

Self-assembled mono- and multilayers of stearic acid have been examined as corrosion protection systems for copper-nickel alloy in 3% sodium chloride solution. We found that self-assembled multilayers of stearic acid provide more efficient and durable corrosion protection to copper-nickel alloy than just a single monolayer. Electrochemical techniques, such as potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, were used to determine the protective properties of the stearic acids films. Sum frequency generation spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, contact angle measurements and ellipsometry were used to evaluate structural properties and thickness of the surface layers. It was found that the increase of corrosion protection from mono- to multilayer films depends on the number of layers that are formed but also on their homogeneity.