Electrochemical corrosion performance in 3.5% NaCl of the electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni films with and without dispersions of Cr nanoparticles

Nanocrystalline (nc) Ni films with and without dispersions of Cr nanoparticles were electrodeposited from a nickel sulfate bath. The grain size of the nc-Ni films was reduced with increasing in the co-deposition content of Cr nanoparticles. Potentiodynamic polarization tests showed that increasing in the co-deposition content resulted in an enlarged passive region of the nc-Ni in 3.5% NaCl through reducing the corrosion potential and increasing the breakdown potential. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation indicated that the polarized pure nc-Ni film exhibited numerous large and deep pits. However, they became smaller and shallower when 4.5 wt.% Cr nanoparticles were co-deposited, and almost disappeared when 10.9 wt.% Cr were co-deposited. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that the different electrochemical corrosion performance was associated with the ability of the Cr nanoparticles co-deposited nc-Ni film to form a continuous Cr-oxide passive film.