Electrochemical Behavior and Nonlinear Mott-Schottky Characterization of a Stainless Steel Passive Film

The electrochemical behavior of 304-stainless steel in solutions with different pH values and chloride concentrations was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and a nonlinear Mott-Schottky analysis method. The results showed that the corrosion behavior of 304-stainless steel was affected by various factors, such as pH, chloride ion concentration, and dissolved oxygen. The pit initiation and propagation stage were observed in EIS plots through the addition of sodium chloride. In addition, the effect of pH on the passive film dominated one of the film growth kinetic reactions. The effect of chloride ion concentration was caused by the generation of more cation vacancies, leading the passive film more susceptible to pitting, which was also demonstrated by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. The results are consistent with the point defect model.