Research on wettability of nickel coating changes induced in the electrodeposition process

Abstract

In this study, nickel coatings were electrodeposited on copper substrate. The effect of electrodeposition process parameters on surface morphology and wettability of nickel coatings were studied, such as ions source, anode activator, pH buffer, brightener and current density. According to the experiment plan established by Central Composite Design (CCD) with five parameters as mentioned above, nickel coatings have been fabricated on the copper sample using one-step electrodeposition method. Then, response surface methodology was utilized to establish surrogate models based on the static contact angle of nickel coatings which were measured by water liquids. 3D digital microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed rough hierarchical structure, surface morphology and chemical composition on the coating surface, respectively. Subsequently, a sampling-based stochastic model was devoted to weigh the effects of uncertainty in each electrodeposition process parameter on the variability of water contact angle. According to the obtained results, the concentration of brightener as well as ions source greatly affects the wettability of nickel coating. The method of uncertainty analysis can be applied to study the uncertain influence factors in electrochemistry research.