Electrodeposition and Morphology Analysis of Nickel Nanoparticles from Sulphate Bath

The electrodeposition of Nickel in the presence of organic compound was studied systematically as function of the nature of the organic additive. The effects of various parameters such as nickel sulphate concentration, bath temperature, current density have been investigated on deposit physical appearance. The tolerance limits and the effect of combined organic additive have been identified under different experimental conditions. We have used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to characterize the surface morphology of deposits. The SEM pictures show the formation of domain growth of nickel in which nanoparticles are mostly concentrated at domain boundaries and incorporated in the coating matrix to improve the surface mechanical properties. The coatings are found to be highly adherent and uniform by adding calixarene derivative as organic additive at very low concentration. Threedimensional AFM images confirm that the presence of calixarene derivative improves the surface smoothness. The microhardness measurements were performed and the structure of deposits was examined by X-ray diffraction.