  We formulate the maximum driving force (MDF) parameter as a descriptor to
capture the thermodynamic stability of aqueous surface scale creation over a
range of environmental conditions. We use formation free energies, $\Delta_f
G$s, sourced from high-throughput density functional theory (DFT) calculations
and experimental databases to compute the maximum driving force for a wide
variety of materials, including simple oxides, intermetallics, and alloys of
varying compositions. We show how to use the MDF to describe trends in aqueous
corrosion of nickel thin films determined from experimental
linear-sweep-voltometry data. We also show how to account for subsurface
oxidation behavior using depth-dependent effective chemical potentials. We
anticipate this approach will increase overall understanding of oxide formation
on chemically complex multielement alloys, where competing oxide phases can
form during transient aqueous corrosion.
