Triazole-modified chitosan: a biomacromolecule as a new environmentally benign corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel in a hydrochloric acid solution

impedance analysis supported the adsorption of the inhibitor on the surface of carbon steel, and the potentiodynamic polarization indicated a mixed type of inhibitor behavior with cathodic predominance. To get a better insight on the interaction of inhibitor molecules with the metal surface, a detailed theoretical study was performed using DFT calculations, Fukui indices analysis and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The DFT study showed a lower energy gap of CS-AMT and the MD simulations showed an increased binding energy of CS-AMT compared to the parent chitosan and triazole moieties thereby supporting the experimental findings.