Characterization of black and white chromium electrodeposition films: surface and optical properties

Thin films of black and white chromium have been prepared by electrodeposition on stainless steel substrates. The potentiodynamic and potentiostatic technique was used in order to prepare these materials. XRD, XPS, SEM and spectral reflectance in the UV–Visible–near IR and medium IR ranges, for both films coatings were characterized. From the SEM analysis, it was found while the black chromium has a lamellar morphology that leads to a strong dispersion level, the white one has a flat morphology. The chemical composition of these thin films was determined by XRD and XPS technique. The XRD results showed that in both cases chromium is the main bulk chemical compound in both films. However, from XPS analysis of these surfaces, it was possible to determine that the most external layers of the films are made of different kinds of chromium compounds. The black chromium film has better optical properties to transform solar energy into thermal energy, and these properties remain practically constant even when heat treated to a high temperature, 400 °C. On the other hand the white chromium film is a better substrate for hydrogen evolution reactions than the black one.