Electrochemical characterisation of process of ruthenium based surface activation for electroless nickel plating

AbstractAbstractPdCl2 is conventionally used as the activator solution for electroless nickel plating. In the present study RuCl3 solution was used instead of PdCl2. The preplating characteristics of the process were studied systematically based on a number of basic electrochemical experiments. An improvement in electrochemical characteristics such as polarisation and anodic stripping behaviour was observed in the case of the deposit obtained after activation using 2 g dm−3 RuCl3. The experimental results revealed that a single step activation was sufficient to yield quite good results instead of the conventional two step activation process which has economic constraints.Keywords: RUTHENIUMELECTROLESS PLATINGNICKEL PLATINGSURFACE ACTIVATIONNICKEL PHOSPHORUS COATING