Study on Surface Properties of Electrodeposited Graphene Platelet (GPL)—Cobalt (Co)—Nickel (Ni) Composite Coating

In this experiment, an electrochemical deposition process was used for creating GPL-Co-Ni coating. The conclusion of this experiment showed that synthetic coating with the addition of cobalt ions had more graphene deposits. The surface morphology of the coating were characterized by electron microscope (SEM) and super depth of field microscope. GPLs in the composite coating were characterized by Raman spectrometer. The GPL-Ni coating and GPL-Co-Ni coating were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the Scherrer equation was used for estimating and comparing the average grain size of the cladding material. The Vickers hardness and electrochemical corrosion tests showed that GPL-Co-Ni coating had better performance in mechanical properties and corrosion resistance relative to GPL-Ni coating. Through comparison and analysis, it was found that the addition of cobalt to the composite coating increased the deposition amount of GPLs on the coating surface, and that the GPL-Co-Ni composite coating has higher microhardness and high-performance in corrosion resistance, compared with the GPL-Ni coating.