The present study outlines the use of Zinc Acetate and Thespesia populnea as protective coatings for TMT rod surfaces in a marine environment. Initially, the inhibitor was extracted from plant leaves using ethanol, after which Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) were synthesized. The TMT rods were then coated with ZnONPs and subjected to corrosion testing in a marine environment. The synthesis of the Zinc oxide nanoparticles was achieved through a chemical precipitation method and their size effects were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Visible) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that with 10 coatings of ZnONPs, the corrosion rates peaked at 94.1% for 8 mm rods, 94.7% for 10 mm rods and 96.2% for 16 mm rods, respectively. The inhibition data conformed to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, indicating that the ZnONPs followed a physical adsorption mechanism.

doi.org/10.32737/0005-2531-2025-2-59-69