Corrosion is an interfacial electrochemical process that causes insurmountable damage to the nation’s infrastructure, costing the USA over $200 billion a year. Corrosion is a slow process, which makes it difficult to assess study <i>in situ </i>without harsh solution conditions or long observation times to produce micro/macroscale features that can be detected with traditional instrumentation. Single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy can reduce the time scale to monitor corrosion by orders of magnitude by observing single reactions at nanoscales. Proof-of-concept experiments at aqueous/metal film interfaces demonstrate detection of single molecule reactions using fluorophores that “turn-on” at both anodic and cathodic sites. The potential for <i>in situ </i>single molecule monitoring of corrosion has possible implications for a better understanding of the mechanism of corrosion and performance of anti-corrosive materials (polymeric inhibitors, coatings, etc.) to inform the design of materials relevant to the automotive, military, paint/coatings, and aeronautic industries.

Spatiotemporal studies of the mechanism of corrosion by single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy

2019 Fall National Meeting

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