Thiocarbohydrazones Based on Adamantane and Ferrocene as Efficient Corrosion Inhibitors for Hydrochloric Acid Pickling of C-Steel

N′-(adamantan-2-ylidene)hydrazinecarbothiohydrazide and 2-(ferrocenyl-1-ylidene) hydrazinecarbothiohydrazide are used in coordination and organometallic complexes. The important idea of the research in this paper is the principal to prepare thiocarbohydrazones from the reaction of 2-acetylferrocene (Fe-Th) or 2-adamantanone (Ad-Th) with carbonothioic dihydrazide. The materials were elucidated by elemental analysis and spectral data. The as-prepared compounds were applied as effective corrosion inhibitors for HCl pickling of C-steel. Detailed investigations on electrochemical (open circuit potential (OCP) vs. time, potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), and impedance spectroscopy (EIS)) techniques and surface morphology studies are introduced in this work. Results indicated that Fe-Th could deliver greater inhibition performance than Ad-Th, and the highest protection capacity values of 93.6% (Ad-Th) and 97.9% (Fe-Th) were accomplished at 200 ppm. The adsorption of Ad-Th or Fe-Th additives followed the Langmuir isotherm with both the chemical and the physical adsorption with chemisorption predominance. EIS measurements supported a betterment in the capacitive behavior with the corrosion inhibitors. The inhibitors exhibited a mixed-type behavior as observed from the PDP studies. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies emphasize the occurrence of a protective layer of the as-synthesized organic inhibitors on the C-steel interface. Theoretical studies (density functional theory (DFT) calculations and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations) provide appropriate support for the experimental findings. The existing report provides very significant consequences in formulating and designing novel thiocarbohydrazone inhibitors with high protection efficacy.