Preparation of Cu-MOFs and its corrosion inhibition effect for carbon steel in hydrochloric acid solution

Cu-based metal–organic framework materials (Cu-MOFs) were synthesized by reacting copper nitrate trihydrate with 5-methyl-2-thiophenecarboxylic acid in the presence of 4,4-bipyridyl via the solvothermal method, and the structure of the resulting materials was characterized. The experimental results showed that Cu-MOFs could significantly reduce the corrosion rate of carbon steel and protect it from corrosion. Increasing the concentration of Cu-MOFs in the test solution increased inhibition efficiency, which reached 82.42% at 50 mg/L Cu-MOFs. Our findings confirmed that the synthesized Cu-MOFs could adsorb into and cover the surface of carbon steel to form a dense protective film that inhibits its corrosion.