Microstructure and anti-corrosion properties of spray pyrolyzed Ni-doped ZnO thin films for multifunctional surface protection applications

Abstract The microstructures, electrochemical, and hardness properties of deposited Ni-doped ZnO thin films on ultrasonically cleaned 316L stainless steel (316L ST) employing a low-cost chemical spray pyrolysis technique (CSPT) was examined in this work. The films were prepared at various concentrations using commercially available purity zinc acetate and nickel acetate as the precursor sources. The result of x-ray diffractometry (XRD) showed that the films have polycrystalline structure with all the films consisting of single phase ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) result affirmed that the coated films adhered to the substrates and equally spread through the substrate surfaces. The surface microstructure of the 316L ST improves with Ni content. The corrosion resistance of the 316L ST was observed to improve with the coated films. Hardness value of the uncoated 316L ST was observed to increase from 139.15 HV to 233.03 HV of coated S3 (9% nickel acetate (0.2 M) and 91% zinc acetate (0.2 M)).