Electrochemical characterisation of process of ruthenium based surface activation for electroless nickel plating

Abstract

PdCl₂ is conventionally used as the activator solution for electroless nickel plating. In the present study RuCl₃ solution was used instead of PdCl₂. The preplating characteristics of the process were studied systematically based on a number of basic electrochemical experiments. An improvement in electrochemical characteristics such as polarisation and anodic stripping behaviour was observed in the case of the deposit obtained after activation using 2 g dm⁻³ RuCl₃. The experimental results revealed that a single step activation was sufficient to yield quite good results instead of the conventional two step activation process which has economic constraints.

Keywords:

• RUTHENIUM
• ELECTROLESS PLATING
• NICKEL PLATING
• SURFACE ACTIVATION
• NICKEL PHOSPHORUS COATING