Investigation of the Effect of Acidity and Polyethylene Glycol on Electrochemical Deposition of Trivalent Chromium Ions

The effect of solution acidity and organic additives, polyethylene glycol (PEG), on the trivalent chromium electroplating was systematically investigated in the view point of solution stability, electroreduction of trivalent chromium ions and characterization of deposition layer. It was found that, the concentration of fraction chromium complexes in the trivalent chromium bath containing formic acid is strongly depended on pH value. PEG molecules were stable in trivalent chromium bath containing formic acid via studies on electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and UV-Vis. However, the presence of PEG molecules decreased the reductive current of hydrogen evolution, increasing of current efficiency higher about 10 % compared with solutions without PEG. Moreover, PEG additives developed the nodular morphology during electroreduction of trivalent chromium ions with the increase of solution acidity and enhanced its current efficiency by maintaining the consumption of complexant, formic acid, at a low speed. In this study, the effect of solution acidity was emphasized important, there, it controlled the formation of complexes in the solution, cathodic film (CF) during deposition, and properties of deposited layer. By electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM), studies show that chromium electrodeposition occurs via the formation of intermediate complexes and adsorption on the cathode surface, which hinder the penetration of ions from bulk solution to the cathode surface.