Science and engineering research studies are currently concentrating on synthesizing, designing, producing, and consuming ecologically benign chemical species to replace harmful chemicals. This is due to the increasing demands of conservation knowledge and strict ecological regulations. Numerous environmentally friendly substitutes produced from natural resources, including biopolymers, plant extracts, chemical pharmaceuticals (drugs), and so on, are now frequently used as inhibitors to replace dangerous corrosion inhibitors. Many compounds have been extensively used. A range of methods, including physisorption, chemisorption, barrier protection, thin-film growth, and electrochemical procedures, will be used to provide corrosion resistance. The various kinds of corrosion inhibitors (CIs), the mechanisms underlying inhibition, and the evaluation procedures have all been covered in-depth. This review provides an overview of the relevant literature in which researchers and scientists used different types of CIs, the effect of CIs on metals, and information about designs and mechanisms used to minimize corrosion in a variety of equipment composed of alloys or metals, along with electrochemical evaluation studies. This review will provide scholars with fresh insights to advance the discipline.

Interface engineering has gradually attracted substantial research interest in constructing active bifunctional catalysts toward urea electrolysis. The fundamental understanding of the crystallinity transition of the components on both sides of the interface is extremely significant for realizing controllable construction of catalysts through interface engineering, but it still remains a challenge. Herein, the Ni/NiO heterogenous nanoparticles are successfully fabricated on the porous N-doped carbon spheres by a facile hydrothermal and subsequent pyrolysis strategy. And for the first time we show the experimental observation that the Ni/NiO interface can be fine-tuned via simply tailoring the heating rate during pyrolysis process, in which the crystalline/amorphous or crystalline/crystalline Ni/NiO heterostructure is deliberately constructed on the porous N-doped carbon spheres (named as CA−Ni/NiO@NCS or CC−Ni/NiO@NCS, respectively). By taking advantage of the unique porous architecture and the synergistic effect between crystalline Ni and amorphous NiO, the well-designed CA−Ni/NiO@NCS displays more remarkable urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity than its crystalline/crystalline counterpart of CC−Ni/NiO@NCS. Particularly, the whole assembled two-electrode electrolytic cell using the elaborate CA−Ni/NiO@NCS both as the anode and cathode can realize the current density of 10 mA·cm⁻² at a super low voltage of 1.475 V (264 mV less than that of pure water electrolysis), as well as remarkable prolonged stability over 63 h. Besides, the H₂ evolution driven by an AA battery and a commercial solar cell is also studied to enlighten practical applications for the future.

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were decorated with different amounts on the exterior walls of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by a laser ablation assisted method, especially in liquid media to be applied as a good adsorption material against naphthalene. The laser ablation time was controlled the amount of decoration Ag NPs on CNTs. The prepared nanocomposite was analyzed via different analytical techniques. Ag NPs with a small size distribution of 29 nm are uniformly decorated with spherical shape on CNTs walls. The disorder degree of tubular structure and shifting of the vibrational characteristic peaks increase with the increase in the decoration of Ag NPs. After that, the prepared samples were investigated for the removal of naphthalene. These studies of loading Ag NPs with different amounts on the surface of CNTs act as a promising material for water treatment.

Metal surfaces can become damaged by corrosion when they interact with their surroundings, leading to huge financial losses. The use of corrosion inhibitors is one of the most crucial ways to combat the risky and hazardous effects of corrosion. In the present research, electrochemical techniques and surface analysis have been used to characterize the inhibition properties of (3-hydroxy-4-((4-nitrophenyl)diazenyl)-5-(phenylamino)thiophen-2-yl)(phenyl)methanone for the corrosion of carbon steel in an aerated 1.0 M HCl solution. Steel’s corrosion resistance was discovered to be improved by the presence of the examined inhibitor in 1.0 M HCl medium through the adsorption of the inhibitor species to create a barrier layer. The findings showed that when inhibitor concentrations increased and solution temperatures decreased, the inhibition performance (%IE) of the compound under study enhanced. In the light of inhibitor probe’s chemical makeup and theoretical analysis, the mechanism of the inhibition process was addressed. In a 1.0 M HCl solution containing 5 × 10⁻⁵ M of the inhibitor, the inhibition performance, at room temperature, was found to be almost 97%. The electrochemical results revealed that the examined compound successfully prevented carbon steel corrosion as a mixed-type inhibitor. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms are pursued by the adsorption of the examined inhibitor. Additionally, using Arrhenius and transition state equations, the activation thermodynamic parameters ΔE_a, ΔH*, and ΔS* were determined and explained. The adsorption process was illustrated using DFT computation and MC simulations. The experimental findings and theoretical simulations concurred surprisingly well. Finally, the paper presents a discussion of the inhibitory mechanism.