Electrodeposition of Porous Nickel Films Using Hydrogen Bubbles as a Template

Porous nickel films have been successfully electrodeposited using cathodic hydrogen bubbles as a template. The influence of deposition parameters including concentration, temperature and current density on the films morphologies has been systematically studied. SEM results showed that increase in current density resulted in the deposits with higher pore density and smaller pore size. Both the pore size and thickness of the pore walls increased with the electrolyte temperature range from 20 to 60 ℃ when the other deposition parameters were fixed. Increasing the concentration of NiCl2 or NH4Cl in the electrolyte led to the thicker of the pore walls and declined pore size and density. The deposits displayed a dendritic morphology in cross-sectional SEM image. Electrochemical characterization of the porous nickel films after surface oxidation in 1.0 mol·L-1 NaOH solution showed that specific capacitance as high as 7.2 F·g-1 could be reached.