Electroless iron plating on pure magnesium for biomedical applications

摘要

Electroless nickel plating is usually adopted to protect magnesium and its alloys from corrosion and abrasion. While in biomedical application, electroless nickel platting is not a good choice in consideration of the toxicity of nickel ion. In the present study, biocompatible and biodegradable iron coatings were directly electroless plated on pure magnesium in the alkaline plating solutions containing three different reducing agents: KBH_4, NH_2-NH_2 and NaH_2PO_2. The electroless plated coatings consisting of crystalline α-Fe are tightly bonded to magnesium substrates. The surface morphology of the iron coatings differed with the reducing agents. When using KBH_4, NH_2-NH_2 and NaH_2PO_2 as reducing agents, the plating rates were 5.2 μm/h, 1.1 μm/h and 1.1 μm/h, respectively. All coated sample showed more noble potential than the magnesium substrate.