Zinc deposit structures obtained from high purity synthetic and industrial acid sulphate electrolytes with and without antimony and glue additions

Abstract

A characteristic morphology and crystal orientation; namely (112) (114) (102), has been obtained for zinc deposits electrowon from high purity synthetic and industrial acid sulphate electrolytes. These deposit characteristics persisted over a wide range of experimental conditions which included variations in the applied current density and changes in the anode materials and cathode pretreatments. The addition of either antimony or glue to the electrolyte produced deposit morphologies and orientations which were distinctly different from those obtained for addition-free electrolytes. When both antimony and glue additions were made to the electrolyte, however, the deposit morphologies and crystal orientations were similar to those obtained from addition-free solutions. The various deposit morphologies and orientations obtained were shown to correlate with changes occurring in the zinc deposition overvoltage.