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Questions tagged [electroplating]

Electroplating is the process of plating one metal onto another by hydrolysis, most commonly for decorative purposes or to prevent corrosion of a metal. There are also specific types of electroplating such as copper plating, silver plating, and chromium plating.

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Is there any method to make sure a electroplated layer of iron oxidizes into magnetite (Fe3O4) instead of hematite (Fe2O3)?

I am currently electroplating iron on copper using a DIY setup in my lab. Steel sheet as anode with electrolyte having 5% acetic acid with sodium carbonate to form sodium acetate and added some NaCl ...
assasinchop7's user avatar
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Electrolytic Substrate modification to enhance corrosion resistant of reactive metal

So, I was working on a project lately. The project I was working on involves the utilization of inexpensive, non-toxic, and inert electrodes. Unfortunately, the only substrates I have access to are ...
Ananiya J. Kesto's user avatar
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Amount of PEG to add to copper plating solution?

I found a paper about making a copper plating solution and thought I'd give it a shot. Please keep in mind I have no formal education in chemistry. I have a few questions about the preparation of the ...
Bas Visscher's user avatar
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Does electroplating with copper takes less time than electroplating with zinc?

is electroplating with copper quicker than electroplating with zinc -- assuming that in both scenerios the cathode is steel, the surface area, the current, the thickness are the same, and the ...
guestt's user avatar
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Oxidize Zinc or Nickel in black nickel plating to get browns?

I have a black nickel plating solution that is comprised of the following: Nickel (II) Sulfate (45-50% by weight) Zinc Sulfate Heptahydrate (20-24%) Ammonium Thiocyanate (20-23%) Zinc Chloride (1-3%) ...
Tommy's user avatar
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2 votes
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Is it possible to electroplate iron onto nickel in a sodium chloride solution?

Over the years I have salvaged many laptop and power tool batteries and collected a lot of metal strips, but I don't know if they are made of nickel or nickel-plated steel. I have a piece that I know ...
Karabin's user avatar
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-1 votes
2 answers
338 views

Effect of phosphoric acid on chrome plating

Wondering whether phosphoric acid a suitable agent to clean chrome plated bathroom figments - a metal base shower head
Mark Runchman's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
397 views

Copper plating surface color shifts from light to dark orange to black in less than 12 hours

We have been doing barrel-type copper plating on small parts, and all of a sudden there is an increase of copper plating discoloration after copper plating. The color shifts from bright orange (good) ...
Kim Maric's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
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How to electroplate vias and THT holes on PCB with copper?

How can I electroplate copper into PCB's vias and THT holes? I found several instructions, but they all use palladium (which is expensive), or calcium hypophosphite (which I can't get in my country), ...
sulter's user avatar
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1 vote
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Gold Chloride as electroplating solution?

In some (maybe questionable) pedagogical texts at least, gold chloride solution is presented as an electrolyte in the electro deposition of gold. In practice however, it seems that cyanide based ...
Joeseph123's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why is silver cyanide used for electroplating

(Partially answered by Safe silver electroplating solutions) Why is silver cyanide used as an electrolyte in silver plating? (source) There are other (cheaper, less toxic) silver salts, such as silver ...
James K's user avatar
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1 answer
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Is this sulphur? [closed]

I was electroplating with a copper sulfate electrolyte, and now a yellow substance has settled at the bottom of the container, is it sulphur from the copper sulfate or something else from the screw I ...
Taxolotl's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
193 views

Electrolysis when E_cell = 0

I'm a bit confused by the electroplating of Zinc onto Copper, with Zinc (anode) and Copper (cathode) electrodes in a Zn(NO3)2 solution. The reduction reaction is: Zn2+ + 2e- ---> Zn (s) (E_rxn = -0....
cim's user avatar
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1 vote
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How to oxidize black nickel plating

Looking to force a patina on a black nickel plating over brass to mimic age. I know black nickel can oxidize brown or yellow but I don't know how to oxidize it. I don't see anything on the web. Can ...
Tommy's user avatar
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-1 votes
2 answers
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Can you coat/ "plate" things with non metals or compounds? [closed]

I was recently watching a video on electro plating I understand that it only works with metals so I wondered if there's a method to do the same thing but with non-metals.
neo flare's user avatar
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1 answer
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How to dissolve nickel layer from chromium part

I have a part made of chromium. The part was plated with nickel. How can I dissolve nickel coat from that part? I knew that nickel could be dissolved in hydrochloric, sulfuric, and dilute nitric acid. ...
BrilliantContract's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
170 views

Is it possible to electrochemically remove the aluminum fouling a steel file?

I have a number of metal files that, to my regret, I have used on aluminum which gets stuck to the teeth. As suggested on several mechanics forums, I have tried soaking the files in concentrated ...
Steve Dutky's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
919 views

Stannous chloride is not dissolving into water

I am trying pcb tin plating. I am following a formula that uses 50ml water 2gm sulfamic acid 0.5gm stannous chloride 3gm thiouria 50ml water The problem is, my Tin(II) chloride is not dissolving. It ...
Saiam Meshkat's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
47 views

What is a suitable material for a cathode in electroplating experiment?

I am going to do an electroplating experiment, whereby I will be using a Cu(NO3)2 solution to plate onto a cathode. What is an easily accessible cathode which I can use for this? Would a strip of Ag (...
Simplex1's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
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How is it possible to electroplate using an Al3+ solution, when water is a stronger oxidant?

Suppose that I wanted to electroplate Al(s) onto a Cu(s) Cathode, (using an Aluminium Nitrate solution and Al(s) anode). At standard conditions, Al(s) is the strongest reducing agent, which is good. ...
Simplex1's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Copper plating with electrolyte not working (Cu(OH)2 vs CuSO4)

I've been experimenting using electroplating, and I recently made a solution by placing two copper pieces connected to a voltage source, in water. I suspect that this created copper(II) hydroxide, as ...
Ethan S.'s user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Electrolysis of copper sulphate using copper electrodes: Mass lost from anode is greater than mass deposited on cathode

In short, the aim of my experiment is to determine how the concentration of sulphuric acid in solution affects the mass liberated and deposited at copper electrodes, when copper sulphate is ...
PLM's user avatar
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1 answer
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What happens at the inert anode in an electrolytic cell? [duplicate]

Recently I did an experiment using graphite as the anode and iron as the cathode for an electrolytic cell. I tried plating different metals such as copper, nickel, and zinc with CuSO4, NiSO4, and ...
BCKTHUNDR's user avatar
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1 answer
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Sodium Sulfate or Sodium Carbonate for electrolysis in water

I am not a chemist but I have a question regarding electrolytes in electrolysis. I have done a lot of reading but cannot find the answer I'm looking for regarding Sodium Sulfate (or Sulfide) I intend ...
Tea1023's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
843 views

Best Way to Store Copper Acetate Solution?

I am preparing to copper electroplate an ABS plastic sheet in my home and wanted to know what the best container/environment would be to store the copper acetate solution. First, I created the ...
Jai's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
1k views

What surface treatment can turn nickel black?

Questions: The detailed surface treatment to turn nickel plated steel black. The reaction mechanism of the process. Methods: (preferred) Anodizing, oxidizing : The only black nickel oxide is $\ce{...
7E10FC9A's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
2k views

Proper method to electroplate aluminum?

I'm looking to plate some aluminum with silver using a basic solution. My first attempt was to use sodium carbonate to make silver acetate. I sped up the process using hydrogen peroxide. I used the ...
tuskiomi's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
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Forming AgCl from electroless Ag [closed]

We are looking to design flexible substrates with electroless plated silver on them (for use in sensor applications). We need convert the surface of the silver to silver-chloride (AgCl) for ...
Hephaestus's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
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Solution for Electroplating Selenium?

I need to electroplate selenium onto a conductive metal (for an experiment). The end goal is a thin film of pure, elemental selenium. Unfortunately I can't find anything on the internet: Ideally, I'd ...
Herb's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
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How does increasing the Hydrogen Concentration of CuSO4 (electrolyte) affect electroplating of copper

I'm trying to find an answer as to how lowering the pH of the CuSO4 solution during electroplating of copper affects the amount of copper deposited onto the cathode. My very basic understanding is ...
Jason's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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Copper plating with switched anode and cathode [closed]

Please help! I was working on a mock research project/lab for my chemistry class testing the rate of electroplating of copper vs. voltage. I had copper and nickel electrodes and .1M copper sulfate ...
Mateusz Plaza's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
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How does one electroplate Lithium onto a conductive metal? [closed]

In this case the anode for electroplating would be the Lithium and the cathode would be any conductive metal. Unfortunately Lithium reacts violently with water, which is the basis of most electrolyte ...
Steve Mucci's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
84 views

Permanent storage container with electrode for electroplating

I'm not a chemist at all but I am looking for a specific type of container which I'm sure must exist but I don't know it's name. We want to store non-toxic (non-cyanide) gold solution for ...
Metioche's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
774 views

Does the current of an electrolytic cell increase if the surface area of the Cathode is increased

I am currently in high school and will be conducting an experiment looking at the effect of surface area on electroplating. I will be changing the surface area of the Cathode during my experiment but ...
blocktrocks101's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
600 views

Is it possible to electroplate from a gallium anode?

I have been looking at some papers on electro-deposition of iron gallium alloys and these all use solutions made up of Fe and Ga sulphates. I am just curious as to why perhaps an anode made of one of ...
Dave's user avatar
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1 answer
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Cobalt electroplating over nickel-plated steel

From my research, I understand that cobalt can be used on top of a nickel layer to improve durability of the nickel plating on a steel object. I am using a nickel anode and nickel acetate as ...
Chip T's user avatar
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Should I plate cast iron with copper first before nickel plating?

I have some antique handplane lever caps I would like to retore back to their former glory. They are made of nickel plated cast iron. The plating pin holed and flaked in areas, creating rust spots. ...
user148298's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
219 views

Electrolytic cell to remove soft solder from silver?

Hi my chemistry is pretty dire but have vague idea that an electrochemical cell could be used to remove soft solder (lead/tin probably) from a piece of sterling silver in need of a repair. The ...
johnshaw's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Electroplating an alloy from separate metal solutions

Similarly to a question asked here, would mixing two solutions containing metallic ions in different proportions allow to electroplate something with the alloy of the metals? For example if I take a $\...
Nicolas's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Electroplating diamond grit

I want to do electroplating with diamond grit and make profiling, grinding and cutting disks. (see the attached photos) I want to know the process to make the machine or the company whom is selling ...
Mehdi's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
730 views

Why does silver plating require undercoats of copper and nickel?

I came across a question that was about silver plating (of steel), but I couldn't help but wonder why the sequence was illustrated as this: step 1 A coating of copper is applied to the object. step ...
Arush Ramteke's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
992 views

Electroplating copper yields rough surface?

I am attempting to electro-plate vias in a home brew printed circuit board. The medium I am attempting to electroplate is fiberglass bound together with epoxy. This is an intentional insulator. I ...
Allenph's user avatar
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14 votes
5 answers
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Is there a way to "electroplate" wood with copper?

Maybe wood can be coated with copper (II) sulphate first, or roasted in order to form a conductive charcoal (carbon) layer.
HannesH's user avatar
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1 answer
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Copper plating, is sulphuric acid necessary? Alternative to H2SO4?

Many links and tutorials on copper plating use a solution that contains copper sulphate / sulphuric acid and hydrocloric acid. In Sweden, Sulphuric acid is almost impossible to get a hold off. You ...
Magnus's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
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How is this Steampunk patina being applied?

Can anyone explain what is being deposited in this video @ 11:40? It's Steampunk patina technique to make things look old and decrepit. "The mixture consists of: 50 g of 30% vinegar, 20 g of salt ...
Paul Uszak's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
14k views

Why can higher voltages lead to less efficient electroplating?

I was reading up on electroplating and I came across some things which really confused me: Faraday's First Law says that the amount of metal plated onto the cathode is proportionate to the current, ...
Sarah's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
3k views

Does copper react with HCl when current is present?

Copper does not react with hydrochloric acid, according to many sources. However, I found an experiment posted in a video, which I will try to repeat, that shows a copper pipe dissolving into HCl and ...
Kenneth Nordby's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
131 views

Does electroplating fall off if I disconnect electrolytic cell?

So I understand the basic mechanism of electroplating. I want to ask is there any chance that the electroplating may fall off if I disconnect the electricity supply? As a consequence, should I ...
Soham's user avatar
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0 answers
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Electroplating an iPhone

I thought it would be cool to electroplate the rear case of an iPhone 6 or newer since it's made out of aluminum. It's been a long time since I learned about the topic, so I looked online to research ...
Ryan's user avatar
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-2 votes
1 answer
817 views

electroplating with different electrode and electrolyte [closed]

I wanted to make a school project on galvanic cells and I would like to know of I can make electroplating with electrolyte of $\ce{NaCl}$ to plate let's say a spoon with the sodium from the salt but ...
ezg's user avatar
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