Abstract
The present investigation demonstrates a novel electrochemical route for the production of bright, compact, dense and high purity Ni-NbOx nano-composite coatings on Cu, from glycol-based electrolytes consisting of NbCl5, NiCl2·6H2O and propylene glycol. The effects of both cathodic current density and metal electrodeposition bath concentrations on the surface morphology and composition of the coating were examined. The highest relative metal percentage of co-deposited Nb was 14.3 at% obtained at a current density of 400 mA/cm2. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) revealed a nanocrystalline FCC Ni structure without any significant lattice distortion, as well as an as-yet-unidentified compound. STEM X-ray mapping suggests Nb and O were uniformly distributed in the Ni matrix, without any significant phase segregation, which is consistent with XPS compositional depth profiling. Also, according to the XPS spectra, a 0.7 eV shift to lower binding energy for the Nb (V) species may suggest the partial chemical reduction of Nb2O5 due to possible Ni-Nb bonding. It is thus proposed that a Ni-NbOx deposit was formed by two parallel electrochemical reduction routes: 1) deposition of Ni metal; 2) deposition of a Ni-Nb-O compound as nano-clusters.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
