The 2013 recipient of the Small Business category of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award was Faraday Technology, Inc. (Clayton, Ohio). The award was for Functional Chrome Coatings Electrodeposited from a Trivalent Chromium Plating Electrolyte. Chromium remains top choice material for surface coatings in many highly demanding applications for industrial applications for military and commercial markets. The usual plating baths rely on solutions of hexavalent chromium, although Cr(VI) is the most toxic form of chromium due to its carcinogenic properties. Replacement of chromium by other material is a possibility, but so far no satisfactory alternative exists. However, Faraday Technology, Inc. developed a process in which the Cr(VI) is replaced by less toxic and non-carcinogenic trivalent form of chromium. The process relies on programmed electroplating from Cr(III) bath, in which a reductive cathodic pulse is followed by an anodic pulse, and then a relaxation period. This approach allows for thicker coatings and the structure of properties of the coating can be adjusted as well. The patented FARADAYIC~R TriChrome Plating Process could eliminate about 13 million pounds of hexavalent chromium waste in year in the United States alone and as much as 300 million pounds worldwide.
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