Magnetic field effects on nickel electrodeposition

The effects of a superimposed magnetic field B on the structure of nickel electrodeposits prepared from a quiescent Watts solution were studied by scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscopy investigations. It was observed that B can induce a change of the surface morphology and of the preferential growth direction of the nickel grains. In the absence of organic inhibitor, it is shown that these effects result from an inhibition of nickel-electrocrystallization in relation to the mass-transport enhancement of HC ions promoted by the magnetic field. The phenomenon is much more important in the presence of a strong inhibitor such as 2-butyne-1,4-diol, the activity of which is also under mass-transport limitation. The presence of the magnetically induced convective flow is directly illustrated by the perturbations of the relief of the deposit in the vicinity of attached bubbles. These results demonstrate that most structural modifications of nickel electrodeposits observed in the presence of a magnetic field are consequences of convection phenomena induced by a magnetohydrodynamic effect.