材料期刊网

The relationship between the morphology of zinc electrodeposits and the electrocrystallization noise generated during zinc electroplating was studied using electrochemical noise (EN) technique and scanning transmission electron microscopy (SEM). It is found that, during zinc electroplating, there exist at least four electrocrystallization noise patterns that can be classified into two categories. The first category with large potential oscillation and positive Potential drift during the whole electroplating process results in dentritic zinc electrodeposits, while the second one with little potential oscillation amplitude and little potential drift results in compact zinc electrodeposits. The change of the electrocrystallization potential noise can be attributed to a change in cathode Gibbs free energy due to the nucleation and growth of the crystals. The results have also shown that the electrocrystallization noise pattern can be directly related to the electrodeposit morphology. EN technique can give information about electrodeposit structure that cannot normally be obtained by other electrochemical measurements.