Comparative study on corrosion inhibition of N doped and N,S codoped carbon dots for carbon steel in strong acidic solution.

Carbon steel is the most widely used engineering material, and its corrosion is one of the main areas of concern in many industries. The most practical approach to control this problem is to use corrosion inhibitors. Currently, because of their good water solubility, excellent chemical stability, low cost and nontoxic features, carbon dots (CDs), especially heteroatom-doped CDs, have been developed as green corrosion inhibitors, but the corrosion inhibition efficiency and underlying mechanisms of single- or dual-element doping have not yet been accurately compared and analyzed.