Hope College Physics Department Research Experiences for Undergraduates Summer 2011 Project Summary

Nanostructured materials have a number of interesting properties such as high surface area and enhanced reactivity. This project focuses on creating and characterizing nickel-copper alloy thin films. These films were deposited from solution containing sodium sulfate (1 M), boric acid (0.5 M), nickel (II) sulfate (0.1 M), and copper (II) sulfate (0.01 M) onto uniformly gold-plated silicon wafers. Using a BAS Epsilon electrochemical workstation and a Teflon electrochemical cell, nickel-copper thin films were deposited at various potentials while holding the charge constant. The resulting samples’ structure and composition were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS). The capacitance of the samples was measured in order to estimate their roughness. Moreover, copper was electrochemically removed from samples deposited using a specific deposit potential. The resulting nanoporous samples’ structure, composition and capacitance were then analyzed.
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