Research on the Effects of Environmentally Friendly Additives on Mild Steel Electroless Plating

Abstract

Using a nontoxic reducing agent, the corrosion behavior of an earthing electrode generated from a new and stable electroless copper–tin plating solution has been investigated. During the plating procedure, green additives such as moxifloxacin and gatifloxacin were utilized as stabilizers. Electrochemical methods and salt spray analysis proved that the electroless copper–tin-coated steel surface has exceptional corrosion resistance properties. The corrosion resistance was enhanced by the precipitation hardening (toughening) of surface coatings following heat treatment at 300 °C, which resulted in the production of intermetallic phases such as Cu₃Sn and Cu₆Sn₅. The glossy structure of the coatings was revealed via SEM examinations. The data from the X-ray photoelectron spectral measurement showed that the binding energies 0.020 of the metallic components present in the preventive coatings demonstrated that the inner layer of the coatings contained Sn₂ p_3/2 and Sn₂p accounted for high protection against corrosion resistance by this coatings methodology, and the outer layer of the coatings consisted of Cu₃P, Cu₂P_3/2 O 1s, and O KLL. Electrochemical and quantum mechanical experiments were used to screen the additives’ performance.