The effect of current density on the grain size of electrodeposited nanocrystalline nickel coatings

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of current density on the grain size of electrodeposited nickel coatings. For this purpose, nanocrystalline nickel coatings were deposited from a Watts bath containing 5 g/l sodium saccharin as an additive, by direct current electroplating at different current densities. X-ray diffraction analysis and modified Williamson–Hall relation were used to determine the average grains size of the coatings. The experimental results showed that the coating grains size decreased sharply by increasing the current density from 10 mA/cm2 to 75 mA/cm2. Nanocrystalline nickel coating with average grain size smaller than 30 nm can be achieved at the current densities higher than 50 mA/cm2. Furthermore, a general and simple theoretical model based on atomistic theory of electrocrystallization has been made in order to find out the relationship between the grain size and current density. According to this model the variation of log (d) versus log (i) was linear which is in accordance with experimental results for the current densities lower than 75 mA/cm2.