Nanostructural and electrochemical characteristics of cerium oxide thin films deposited on AA5083-H321 aluminum alloy substrates by dip immersion and sol–gel methods

Abstract In this paper nano sized cerium oxide coating were applied by sol–gel and conversion (dip immersion) method on AA5083-H321 aluminum alloy. Nanostructural and phase properties of nano sized cerium oxides were investigated by SEM, EDX and AFM studies. Potentiodynamic polarization and EIS tests have been used to study corrosion behavior of nano sized cerium oxide films in 3.5% NaCl. Results indicated that cerium oxide which obtained by sol–gel method performed better corrosion and pitting resistance compared with dip immersion method.