Electro-codeposition of Ni-SiO2 nanocomposite coatings from deep eutectic solvent with improved corrosion resistance

Abstract

Electro-codeposition of nano-sized SiO2 particles into the metal matrix in aqueous solution is generally difficult. In this paper, the nano-sized SiO2 particles were successfully codeposited in the Ni matrix from a choline chloride (ChCl)/ethylene glycol (EG) based deep eutectic solvent (DES) by pulse electro-codeposition. The effects of nano-sized SiO2 particles on electrochemical behaviour of Ni(II) were investigated. The microstructure, composition and corrosion resistance of pure Ni and Ni-SiO2 nanocomposite coatings were explored. Results showed that the SiO2 nanoparticles exhibited excellent dispersion stability in ChCl:2EG DES without any stabilizing additives and the presence of SiO2 nanoparticles have significant effects on the nucleation mechanism of Ni. The maximum content of SiO2 nanoparticles in composite coatings can achieve 4.69wt.%, which closes to the level of co-deposition micro-sized SiO2 particles from aqueous solution. The Ni-SiO2 nanocomposite coatings exhibit much better corrosion resistance than pure Ni coating, and the corrosion resistance performance increases with increasing SiO2 content in the composite coatings.