Electroless iron plating on pure magnesium for biomedical applications

Abstract

Electroless nickel plating is usually adopted to protect magnesium and its alloys from corrosion and abrasion. While in biomedical application, electroless nickel platting is not a good choice in consideration of the toxicity of nickel ion. In the present study, biocompatible and biodegradable iron coatings were directly electroless plated on pure magnesium in the alkaline plating solutions containing three different reducing agents: KBH4, NH2–NH2 and NaH2PO2. The electroless plated coatings consisting of crystalline α-Fe are tightly bonded to magnesium substrates. The surface morphology of the iron coatings differed with the reducing agents. When using KBH4, NH2–NH2 and NaH2PO2 as reducing agents, the plating rates were 5.2μm/h, 1.1μm/h and 1.1μm/h, respectively. All coated sample showed more noble potential than the magnesium substrate.