Abstract: The influence of H3BO3 on the zinc electroplating was studied using electrochemical noise technique, cyclic voltammetry and steady-state polarization method. The results showed that,under the experimental conditions, the deposition of zinc followed the mechanism of two-dimensional nucleation and subsequent grain growth. The addition of H3BO3 into the electroplating solution prominently changes the nucleation and growth kinetics of zinc deposits, which is directly related to the features of electrocrystallization noise and the corresponding structure of the electrodeposits. The results also shown that the electrochemical noise (EN) technique can give more information about the electrodeposits structure and electroplating mechanism than other normal electrochemical measurements can give, such as steady-state polarization method and cyclic voltammetry technique.

Key words: zinc electroplating, elecrochemical noise, electrocrystallization