Stability Study of Iron Sulfide Films, Electrochemically Grown on Carbon Steel, in Different Electrolytic Media

Abstract In this work, nonstoichiometric iron sulfide (FexSy) films were prepared and grown by applying cyclic pulses of potential to the carbon steel/sour medium interface (1 M ammonium sulfide [(NH4)2S], 500 ppm cyanide [CN−]) for 15 min. Once the film was formed, it was introduced into solutions of different chemical compositions in order to perform the studies of stability. These studies were initially performed by immersing the film for 18 h in different solutions: 0.1 M (NH4)2S, 10 ppm CN− (pH = 8.8), a neutral solution of 0.1 M sodium nitrate (NaNO3), a neutral solution of 0.1 M sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), and a borate buffer solution prepared by mixing 0.614 M boric acid (H3BO3) and 0.145 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) (pH = 8.8). Afterward, the behavior of this film was characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and scanning electronic microscopy. The results showed that the FexSy films are stable only in the medium of 0.1 M (NH4)2S, 10 ppm CN−. In contrast to the studies reported in the lit...