Manufacturing microporous foam zinc materials with high porosity by electrodeposition

In order to get foam zinc materials of porous metal electrode, a novel method for preparing foam zinc was proposed, in which the polyurethane foam with diameter of 0.3 mm as substrate was processed by degreasing, roughening, activating, electroless plating and electrodeposition. The main factors affecting the process, such as ZnSO₄ content, temperature, pH value, current density, and electrodes distance, were investigated comprehensively. The optimal process conditions are 250 g/L ZnSO₄, 20 g/L Al₂(SO₄)₃, 40 g/L KAl(SO₄)₂, 30 g/L Na₂SO₄, pH=3.5, 4.0 cm of electrodes distance and 0.04 A/cm² current density at 30 °C. The result shows that adding ultrasonic on the process can elevate the deepening plating ability and current efficiency. Foam zinc material with a high porosity of 92.2% and a three-dimensional network structure can be fabricated by electrodeposition.