Microstructure and corrosion behavior of electrodeposited nanocrystalline nickel prepared from acetate bath

The present investigation deals with the electrodeposition of nanocrystalline nickel onto mild steel metallic foil from electrolytes containing nickel acetate as the major metal salt. Two different chlorides, potassium chloride and nickel chloride, were tried for two different baths. Potassium citrate was used as buffer for alternate to boric acid. The additives tried were sodium lauryl sulfate as wetting agent, saccharin as primary brightener and 2-butyne 1,4-diol as secondary brightener. These additives are found to improve the hardness, grain size, surface morphology of the electrodeposited nickel films and throwing power of the nickel acetate electrolytes. The nickel films prepared from nickel chloride containing electrolytes showed higher corrosion resistance as compared to potassium chloride containing electrolytes, because the nickel films produced from the nickel chloride electrolytes are compact and possess fine grained structure. The XRD pattern obtained for electrodeposited nickel shows polycrystalline face centered cubic structure. The crystal size was calculated using Scherrer formula. A uniform and pore free surface was observed under SEM analysis.