Portugaliae Electrochimica Acta 2020, 38(1), 43-58 DOI: 10.4152/pea.202001043 PORTUGALIAE ELECTROCHIMICA ACTA ISSN 1647-1571 Exploring the Capability of Synthesized PVP- Oxime for Corrosion Inhibition of a Mild Steel Surface in a 1 M H2SO4 Solution Nisha Saini a , Rajeev Kuma a , Priti Pahuja a , Reena Malik a , Rinki Malik a , Sushila Singhal b and Suman Lata a,* a Department of Chemistry, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal (131039), Haryana, India b Department of Chemistry, Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, 110019, India Received September 8, 2017; accepted April 30, 2018 Abstract Polyvinylpyrrolidone Oxime (PVPO) was synthesized and studied for mild steel (MS) corrosion inhibition in 1 M H2SO4, at different concentrations and temperatures. The corrosion inhibition efficiency was studied using weight loss method, polarization technique, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and quantum chemical calculations. The results from weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization and EIS showed that the inhibition efficiency (I. E.) increased with gradual increments in the inhibitor concentration, and decreased at higher temperatures. The polarization study also revealed that PVPO acted as a mixed type inhibitor, and Langmuir adsorption isotherm fitted well for the adsorption behavior. The highest corrosion efficiency was found to be 88.39%, with a concentration of 1000 ppm, and a temperature of 303 K. The corrosion inhibition mechanism has been further proposed, including the support from the theoretical study. SEM images also verified the MS surface smoothening in PVPO presence, and, hence, it has shown to be a good corrosion inhibitor. Keywords: mild steel, PVPO, corrosion inhibition, adsorption, thermodynamic study. Introduction Mild steel (MS) is highly applicable in various industries, as well as to domestic purposes, due to its accordable characteristics and affordable costs. Although it is used for the fabrication of various reaction vessels, pipes, tanks, etc., it shows considerable limitations, because it gets corroded during various industrial processes, such as acid pickling and cleaning, oil well acidizing, etc., which results in MS degradation. This process depends upon MS conditions and * Corresponding author. E-mail address: sumanjakhar.chem@dcrustm.org