Effect of Sulfide Concentration on Copper Corrosion in Anoxic Chloride-Containing Solutions

The structure and property of passive film on copper are strongly dependent on the sulfide concentration; based on this, a series of electrochemical methods were applied to investigate the effect of sulfide concentration on copper corrosion in anaerobic chloride-containing solutions. The cyclic voltammetry and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that the corrosion products formed on copper in anaerobic sulfide solutions comprise Cu₂S and CuS. And the corrosion resistance of copper decreased with increasing sulfide concentration and faster sulfide addition, owing to the various structures of the passive films observed by the atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscope. A p-type semiconductor character was obtained under all experimental conditions, and the defect concentration, which had a magnitude of 10²²–10²³ cm⁻³, increased with increasing sulfide concentration, resulting in a higher rate of both film growth and dissolution.