Tyrosine as a novel potential stabilizer in an electroless Ni-P bath exempt of trisodium citrate as complexing agent: Chemical baths optimization and comparative study

The effect of tyrosine (C9H11NO3) as a new stabilizing agent on the composition and conditions of the electroless plating bath of the Ni-P alloy was studied. A comparative study with trisodium citrate, which is commonly used, as a stabilizing complexing agent revealed the effect of tyrosine in this study. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray Energy Dispersion (EDX) are used to study the properties of the Ni-P coating deposit developed in the presence of tyrosine and trisodium citrate. The result of this optimization showed that the use of tyrosine causes the concentration of NiSO4 and CH3COONH4 in the bath to decrease to 67% and 85%, respectively. In contrast, the use of trisodium citrate had no effect neither on the composition nor on the effect of the bath conditions of the deposit. In addition, the use of C9H11NO3 as a stabilizing agent in the bath promotes the increase of the phosphorus content more than trisodium citrate when optimizing the accelerating agent in the bath and therefore changes the structure of the Ni-P deposits developed.