Thin-layer electrodeposition of Zn in the agar gel medium

The preparation of Zn deposits has been performed by thin-layer electrodeposition in acidic zinc sulphate solution with and without agar, respectively. The morphological and structural characteristics of the deposits have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The study shows that the presence of agar has a significant influence on the morphology of the Zn deposits. Under the chosen conditions and without agar, the deposit shows a dendritic morphology, which is made of orderly arranged grains with a preferred orientation in [0001]. In the presence of agar, the deposit shows a dense branch morphology, which has a randomly oriented grain texture and diminished grain size in comparison with that of the dendritic morphology. This work contributes to understanding the influence of agar gel on the pattern formation in thin-layer electrodeposition.