Electrochemical production of Fe-Cu films: determination of the deposition potentials and their effect on microstructural and magnetic properties

¹ Physics Department, Science & Literature Faculty, Balikesir University, Balikesir, Turkey
² Physics Department, Science & Literature Faculty, Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey

Corresponding author: hkockar@balikesir.edu.tr

Received: 21 August 2009
Revised: 3 October 2009
Accepted: 7 October 2009
Published online: 11 November 2009

Abstract

Fe-Cu alloys were grown on polycrystalline titanium substrates after determining the suitable deposition potentials. Based on the results obtained from cyclic voltammetry curves, a potential region between –1.8 V and –2.3 V vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE) was selected. During growth, the electrochemical characterizations of the films were made by recording the current-time transients. The structure of films becomes more brittle with the increase of the deposition potential over –2.3 V vs. SCE due to extreme hydrogen liberation from cathode surface. The structural analysis by the X-ray diffraction demonstrated that the films have a typical body centered cubic of -Fe preferentially grown in the (211) direction. The grain sizes, lattice parameters and interplanar spacings were also calculated. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements demonstrated that the ratio of Fe:Cu was almost the same. The magnetic analysis by vibrating sample magnetometer indicated that the coercivity of the films was slightly affected by the deposition potential.