Abstract
An Ni–B coating was developed on a copper substrate by the direct electroless technique and from a plating bath containing tert-butylamine borane (TBAB). The influence of the electroless plating conditions, using TBAB as a reducing agent on the composition, surface morphology, high-temperature stability and etch resistance in the electrolyte of the coatings, was investigated. The resulting electroless Ni–B plating surfaces were examined and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for morphology and chemical composition, respectively. Electrochemical characterization by potentiodynamic polarization confirmed that a 0.1 M nickel concentration bath for the Ni–B plating was optimized by a TBAB concentration of 0.03 M, temperature of 60°C and pH of 8. Under the optimal bath conditions, the Ni–B electroless plating layer exhibited superior etch resistance in the electrolyte as well as improved stability at high temperature than the Ni–B electroless plating layer prepared using dimethylamine borane. Hence, owing to the remarkable properties of the Ni–B electroless plating layer, this fabrication technique that employs TBAB can be extended to fabricate other Ni–B electroless plating layers.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brenner A and Riddell G E 1946 J. Res. Natl. Bur. Stand. 37 31
Krishnan K H, John S, Srinivasan K N, Praveen J, Ganesan M and Kavimani P M 2006 Metall. Mater. Trans. A 37 1917
Shaigan N, Ashrafizadeh S N, Bafghi M S H and Rastegari S 2005 J. Electrochem. Soc. 152 C173
Anderson S P and Kalu E E 2013 Crystals 3 405
Sun R, Yu G, Xie Z, Hu B, Zhang J, He X et al 2015 Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 10 7893
Chang C R, Hou K H, Ger M D and Wang J R 2017 Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 12 2055
Zhang X and Zhang J 2016 RSC Adv. 6 30695
Ashtiani A A, Faraji S, Iranagh S A and Faraji A H 2017 Arabian J. Chem. 10 S1541
Anik M, Körpe E and Şen E 2008 Surf. Coat. Technol. 202 1718
Rha S K, Baek S D and Lee Y S 2015 J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 15 7444
Mirak M and Akbari A 2018 Surf. Coat. Technol. 349 442
Krishnaveni K, Sankara Narayanan T S N and Seshadri S K 2005 Surf. Coat. Technol. 190 115
Baskaran I, Kumar R S, Sankara Narayanan T S N and Stephen A 2006 Surf. Coat. Technol. 200 6888
Dai S, Chen J, Ren Y, Liu Z, Chen J, Li C et al 2017 Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 12 10589
Liao Y, Zhang S and Dryfe R 2012 Particuology 10 487
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the research grant of the Kongju National University in 2018 (Grant No. 2018-0299-01).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kim, S., Yoon, S. tert-Butylamine borane as a reductant in electroless nickel plating for improved etch resistance in the electrolyte. Bull Mater Sci 43, 226 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-020-02186-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-020-02186-4