抄録
The influence of surfactants on interfacial tension induced between as-deposited nickel and hydrogen bubbles attached to the nickel electrode in the plating solution was investigated. The influence was evaluated in-situ evaluated by measurement of the electrode's buoyancy caused by hydrogen bubbles attached to the nickel electrode during electroplating.
The measurement of buoyancy produced by hydrogen bubbles makes it possible to evaluate successively the performance of the surfactants as wetting agents in the plating solution during nickel electroplating. A part of the as-produced hydrogen adsorbed strongly as bubbles on the as-deposited nickel electrode, which resulted in a pitting formation at the edges of the electrode surface. Four kinds of surfactants made the buoyancy by hydrogen bubbles decrease in the following order : sodium n-dodecyl sulfate >> sodium n-decile sulfate ≥ sodium n-octile sulfate ≥ sodium n-hexyl sulfate. Sodium n-dodecyl sulfate allowed the hydrogen bubbles to leave spontaneously from the electrode without any detectable formation of a pitting.
