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Effect of ultrasounds sonication on surface microstructure of the electrodeposited Ni-Zn thin films

N. SULIŢANU1,* , C. PÎRGHIE2, F. BRÎNZĂ1

Affiliation

  1. Department of Solid State Physics and Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics, “Al.I.Cuza” University, 11 Carol I Blvd., 700506 Iasi, Romania
  2. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, “Stefan cel Mare”University, 720225 Suceava, Romania

Abstract

This work is focussed on the preliminary results on surface microstructure of some Ni-Zn films electrodeposited in the presence or not of an ultrasound field. Different frequencies (20 kHz, 1 MHz) of ultrasounds were applied to electrolytic bath. Ultrasounds were applied perpendicular to the direction of deposition. The thickness of studied samples was in the range of 100-120 nm. The surface microstructure was investigated using an atomic force microscope (AFM) and a laser profilometer. The change in film surface microstructure was evidenced. Ultrasound keeps the electrode surface clean and improves mass transport such that uniform electrode reaction occurs across the area of a centimetre-scale electrode, with consequently greater reaction velocity at the electrodes. We found that 20 kHz irradiation using a cleaning bath allowed the formation of fine grained Ni-Zn films on the electrode. These films had fine structure features and a denser morphology than silent ones. Moreover, the use of a 1MHz higher-frequency bath interfered with formation of coarse grained films at the electrode, similar to those obtained from silent bath. The possibility of obtaining different surface microstructures of Ni-Zn electrodeposited thin films by applying ultrasounds of different frequencies to the electrolyte bath allows to control by structure the physico-chemical properties of the films..

Keywords

Ni-Zn alloy, Electrodeposition, Ultrasounds, Thin film, Surface microstructure.

Submitted at: Sept. 1, 2006
Accepted at: Sept. 13, 2006

Citation

N. SULIŢANU, C. PÎRGHIE, F. BRÎNZĂ, Effect of ultrasounds sonication on surface microstructure of the electrodeposited Ni-Zn thin films, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 8, Iss. 5, pp. 1889-1891 (2006)