Abstract:Cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and scanning electron microscopy were employed to study the influence of Zn²⁺ ion concentration in electrolyte solutions on zinc electroplating process. The results show that, at high overpotentials, the nucleation of zinc is instantaneous, and nuclear density increases with the overpotentials increasing. While at low overpotentials, the zinc may be preferentially electrodeposited on surface inhomogeneities such as emergence points of edge, screw dislocations, atomic disorder, kink sites, or monoatomic steps, and no distinguished nucleation current can be observed. The major dissolution peak in cyclic voltammogram drifts positively due to t, he change of the rate-determining step of zinc electroplating processes from diffusion to the electrochemical reaction with the increase of Zn²⁺ ion concentration.

Key words: zinc electroplating; nucleation; growth; mechanism