Preparation and characterization of electrodeposited iron + cobalt thin films from a chloride bath

Abstract

Fe-Co alloys were deposited and dissolved in the solution containing metallic ions and in the NH4Cl solution. Voltammetric results suggest interaction between the alloy components, constituting a solid solution. ALSV profiles show a differentiation for the dissolution process of the individual metals and alloys, with potentials displacement in the dissolution processes for more and more positive values, as the proportion of cobalt increases in the bath. The nondimensional analyses of the potentiostatic transients for the cobalt, iron and Fe-Co 1:1 and 1:10 suggest a progressive nucleation. However, Fe-Co 1:5 allowed instantaneous nucleation. The chemical and physical characterization of the electrodeposits showed dependence between the surface morphology and the composition of the electrolytic bath. Besides, EDX analyses showed that the composition of the electrodeposits were always corresponding the chemical composition of the electrolytic bath. In this way, it was possible to classify these processes as regular deposition.