Electrochemical production of Fe-Cu films: determination of the deposition potentials and their effect on microstructural and magnetic properties

Fe-Cu alloys were grown on polycrystalline titanium substrates after determining the suitable deposition potentials. Based on the results obtained from cyclic voltammetry curves, a potential region between -1.8 V and -2.3 V vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE) was selected. During growth, the electro-chemical characterizations of the films were made by recording the current-time transients. The structure of films becomes more brittle with the increase of the deposition potential over -2.3 V vs. SCE due to extreme hydrogen liberation from cathode surface. The structural analysis by the X-ray diffraction demonstrated that the films have a typical body centered cubic of alpha-Fe preferentially grown in the (211) direction. The grain sizes, lattice parameters and interplanar spacings were also calculated. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements demonstrated that the ratio of Fe:Cu was almost the same. The magnetic analysis by vibrating sample magnetometer indicated that the coercivity of the films was slightly affected by the deposition potential.