Structure and corrosion resistance of nickel foils deposited in a vertical gravity field

The effects of vertical gravity fields on the structural characteristics of electrodeposited Ni foils were investigated in a centrifuge. Analysis by atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows that the surface roughness of Ni foils reduces from 37.6 nm to 8.1 nm with the increase of gravity coefficient (G) from 1 to 354. Furthermore, the roughness of Ni foils deposited at G = 62 evolves much more slowly than that deposited at G = 1. The study of the textural perfection by X-ray diffractiometry (XRD) reveals that the degree of (2 0 0) preferred orientation parallel to the substrate plane is lowered by the vertical gravity field. Randomly oriented deposits are obtained in the vertical gravity field while deposits with uniaxial texture are obtained in the natural gravity field. Due to these variations in the structure, the Ni foils obtained in the vertical gravity field exhibit improved corrosion resistance.