Cyclic voltammetric generation and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance characterization of passive layer of nickel in a weakly acid medium

The electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance results show that nickel electrodissolution and nickel passivation occur simultaneously. Besides, the anodic transferred charge decreases and the passive layer thickness increases with the number of successive voltammetric cycles. Mass balances across the metal/passive layer/solution have been done from the instantaneous F(dm/dQ) function. A dynamic process for generation of an inner NiO and a Ni(OH)(2) outer passive layers is suggested.