Graphene oxide grafted with dopamine as an efficient corrosion inhibitor for oil well acidizing environments

The acidizing of oil wells is a very significant stimulation technique that has being in use for many decades to improve oil production. Acidizing enhances oil production, however, it exposes the well that is made up of carbon steel to the highly corrosive acid medium. The use of corrosion inhibitor is the most practical and cheapest means for protecting carbon steel from corrosion. In this study, a Dopamine functionalized graphene oxide (DA-GO) was assessed as an inhibitor against the corrosion of carbon steel in 15% HCl solution (simulating oil well acidizing medium) by means of the weight loss and electrochemical experiments. DA-GO exhibited excellent inhibition efficiency. SEM/EDX, AFM and FTIR examination of the carbon steel surfaces suggests the formation of a DA-GO protective film on the steel surface. The protective DA-GO film was mostly formed by the adsorption of DA-GO molecule onto the steel surfaces via an interaction between the Fe atoms/ions and the aromatic rings of DA-GO.