Monitoring the Adsorption of Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors in Real Time with Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

The adsorption of volatile corrosion inhibitors (VCIs) was studied in-situ and in real time using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Two commercially available VCI emitter products were evaluated, and the effects of humidity on adsorption kinetics were examined. Significant differences in the adsorption kinetics were noted between the products. It was shown that the adsorption of VCI did not occur below a relative humidity of about 20%. The adsorption kinetics did not vary significantly with the substrate. Using a combination of SERS and inverted SERS, it was shown that the presence of silver particles did not influence the adsorption of VCI significantly.