New benzisoxazole derivative: A potential corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 0.5 M hydrochloric acid medium -insights from electrochemical and density functional theory studies

6-fluoro-3-(4-piperidinyl)-1,2-benzisoxazole. HCl (FPBH), a substituted benzisoxazole derivative, was prepared from isonipecotic acid and characterized using various spectroscopic techniques. Using electrochemical examinations such as potentiodynamic polarisation (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) technique, the corrosion mitigation capabilities of this compound for mild steel (MS) in 0.5 M HCl medium were investigated. Theoretical studies were performed using quantum chemical calculations and density functional theory (DFT). PDP results exhibited the mixed-type behavior of FPBH and showed a maximum efficiency of 94.5 % at 1 × 10⁻³ M. The development of a protective adsorbed layer of FPBH decreases the corrosion current density (i_corr) and corrosion rate (CR). The EIS technique revealed that the rise in the charge transfer resistance (R_ct) values and reduction in the thickness of the double-layer capacitance (C_dl) reflected the drop in corrosion rate. The adsorption of FPBH took place through physisorption by conforming Langmuir's isotherm. The DFT method was performed on the optimized structure of FPBH to get additional evidence on the action mode of FPBH with the metal surface.