Surfactant assisted electrodeposition of nanostructured CoNiCu alloys

Abstract

In order to obtain a desirable deposition thickness, nanostructured ternary CoNiCu alloys have been electrodeposited from salt solutions containing Co 2+, Ni2+ and Cu2+ in the presence of a neutral surfactant alkyl polyglucoside (APG). Electrodeposition of CoNiCu was carried out in a three-electrode cell with indium-tin oxide (ITO) on glass plate, platinum wire and saturated calomel electrode (SCE) as working electrode, counter electrode and reference electrode, respectively. The nanostructured alloys were characterized by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and supported by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The nanostructured CoNiCu alloys prepared in sulphate solutions in the presence of APG produced a thinner layer of nanoparticles of the alloys compared with the one deposited in the absence of APG. For a fixed deposition time, 160s and at an applied potential of - 875mV (SCE) the layer thickness was about 56 nm for electrodepositionin the presence of 3.25 wt.% APG and about 110 nm without APG. Only a small increase in thickness was observed when the potential was increased to more negative values i.e. - 875 to - 950 mV(SCE).