The influence of albumin on the anodic dissolution of chromium present in UNS S31254 stainless steel in chloride environment

The influence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on the anodic dissolution of chromium present in UNS S31254 stainless steel (SS) in 0.15 mol L−1 NaCl at 37.0 ± 0.5 °C has been studied, using anodic potentiostatic polarization curves and optical emission spectroscopy. Electrochemical results have shown that BSA has little effect on the transpassivation potential (ET) and on the passivation current density values. However on the passivation range, BSA diminishes the intensity of the anodic wave seen at about E = 750 mV versus SCE attributed to Cr(III)/Cr(VI) oxidation. Optical emission spectroscopy results have shown that BSA prevents the anodic dissolution of chromium to occur and minimizes iron dissolution above the transpassivation potential (E = 1160 mV versus SCE).