Applied Surface Science 351 (2015) 889–896

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Applied Surface Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apsusc

Producing cobalt–graphene composite coating by pulse

electrodeposition with excellent wear and corrosion resistance
Cansen Liu, Fenghua Su ∗ , Jizhao Liang
School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Wushan Road No. 381, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510640,
Guangdong Province, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Cobalt (Co) and graphene oxide/cobalt (GO/Co) composite coatings were fabricated by pulse electrodepo-
Received 30 March 2015 sition technique from an aqueous bath containing cobalt sulfate and GO, etc. Effect of the incorporations of
Received in revised form 21 May 2015 GO on morphology, phase structure, average grain size and corrosion and wear resistance of the resulting
Accepted 4 June 2015
composite coatings were evaluated in detail. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersed
Available online 12 June 2015
X-ray (EDX) show that the GO nanosheets disperse homogeneously in the composite coating and the
incorporations of GO change the morphologies of the deposit from conical shaped structure to protrud-
Keywords:
ing structure. In addition, the co-deposition GO with Co ions favor the formation of hcp (1 0 0), (0 0 2)
Cobalt
Graphene oxide
and (1 0 1) textures in the composite coating and have functions of grain refining and hardness enhance-
Pulse electrodeposition ment. The wear tests show that the incorporations of GO in the coating improve the wear resistance and
Wear friction reduction of the deposit. The electrochemical corrosion tests using potentiodynamic polarization
Corrosion and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy show that the GO/Co composite coating possesses better
corrosion resistance than the pure Co coating.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction resistance and mechanical properties of both hardness and wear

Electrodeposition is one of the most important techniques
for producing coating materials with excellent mechanical and
chemical properties [1,2]. The deposited coatings with excellent
properties can increase the lifetime of components exposed to cor-
rosion and wear condition as most of failures such as friction, wear
and corrosion often occur on the material surface.
Nanoparticles are always used to be incorporated in metal and
metal alloy coatings to enhance their mechanical and chemical
properties [3–8]. Aghaie et al. [4] electrodeposited Ni–SiC compos-
ites on copper surface and found that increasing the concentration
of SiC particles in the Watts bath results in the improvement of coat-
ing microhardness and the decrease of the friction coefficient and
wear missing volume. Kasturibai et al. [5] found that the microhard-
ness and corrosion resistance of Ni–Si3 N4 nanocomposite coating
were higher and better than those of the pure Ni coating. Carpen-
ter et al. [6] found that the produced Ni-CNTs exhibited superior
mechanical properties than the pure Ni due to the uniformly dis-
persed CNTs in it. Shao et al. [8] revealed that incorporations of
TiO2 nanoparticles in Ni coating greatly improved the corrosion
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 20 87112341; fax: +86 20 87112341.
E-mail address: fhsu@scut.edu.cn (F. Su).
resistance.
Graphene, a two-dimensional (2D) sp2 -hybridized carbon nano-
material with a one-atom thick structure, has been recognized as
one of the most promising carbon materials after fullerenes and
carbon nanotubes, since its discovery in 2004 by Novoselov and
co-workers [9]. Graphene has received extensive attentions for
both fundamental and applied researches due to its unique elec-
trical, optical, and mechanical properties. Unfortunately, the neat
graphene doesn’t have functional groups on its surface, which harm
its dispersibility in the matrix and limits the potential applica-
tion for the as-prepared composites or coatings [10,11]. Graphene
oxide (GO), as an oxidized derivative of graphene, not only with
the excellent properties of neat graphene but also having abundant
surface functional groups, are expected to be promising nano-scale
filler for the next generation of functional composite materials
[12]. Because of its abundant oxygen-containing functional groups,
such as hydroxyl, epoxide, carbonyl, carboxyl, etc., GO possesses
good solubility in solvents and provides fertile opportunities for the
construction of GO-based hybrid nanocomposites [13]. Therefore,
the composite coatings with superior properties from the co-
deposition of GO with metal ions can be expected and are feasible.
Recently, some works have been done in studying the application
of GO in nickel (Ni) electrodeposition [14,15]. Kuang et al. [14] pre-
pared GO/Ni composites by electrodeposition in a nickel sulfamate

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.06.018
0169-4332/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
890 C. Liu et al. / Applied Surface Science 351 (2015) 889–896
solution with GO sheets in suspension. They demonstrated that the
thermal conductivity and hardness of the composite film were sig-
nificantly improved due to the incorporations of GO nanosheets.
Kumar et al. [15] found that the Ni–graphene composite coating
displayed higher corrosion resistance than the bare Ni coating.
However, there has no study on the friction and wear property
of the composite coating in their study. Moreover, cobalt (Co)
coatings exhibited better wear resistance and friction reduction
than Ni coatings as the considered coatings for the replacement of
hexavalent chromium electrodeposition [16]. The addition of GO
in electroplating Co is expected to produce the GO/Co composite
coating with superior properties.
In this work, GO was synthesized using a modified Hummers
method. The Co and GO/Co composite coatings were fabricated by
a pulse electrodeposition technique. Effect of the incorporations
of GO on the microstructure of the composite coatings, including
morphology, phase structure, average grain size, was systemically
evaluated. In addition, the differences in the hardness, friction and
wear behavior, and the corrosion resistance of the Co and GO/Co
coatings were comparatively studied.
2. Experimental
2.1. Preparation of graphene oxide (GO)
In this study, GO was synthesized from natural graphite powder
by means of a modified Hummers method [17,18]. Typically, 10 g
graphite powder and 8 g NaNO3 were added to 250 mL cooled (0 ◦ C)
concentrated H2 SO4 . 35 g of KMnO4 was added gradually with cool-
ing and stirring, to make sure the temperature of the mixture below
20 ◦ C. Then, the mixture was stirred at 35 ◦ C for 40 min. After that,
450 mL distilled water was slowly added to the mixture, resulting
in the temperature increasing to 98 ◦ C. And, the mixture was kept
at this temperature for 15 min. To terminate the reaction, 1.2 L dis-
tilled water and 20 mL 30% H2 O2 were added one by one. The solid
product was collected by centrifugation and washed repeatedly by
5% HCl solution until no sulfate could be detected by BaCl2 . Finally,
the product of GO was dried in a vacuum oven at 60 ◦ C for 24 h.
2.2. Electrodeposition of Co and GO/Co composite coatings
Co coatings were deposited from an electrolyte bath con-
sisting of CoSO4 ·7H2 O (112 g L−1 ), H3 BO3 (40 g L−1 ) and Na2 SO4
(100 g L−1 ). For depositing GO/Co composite coating, GO (0.2 g L−1 )
was added in the electrolyte bath. The pH value of the bath was
maintained at 5.0 adjusted by sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide.
A copper plate was used as the working cathodes with dimensions
of Ø25.0 × 2.0 mm. Prior to plating, the surface of the copper plate
was polished mechanically using abrasive paper (from 600 to 1500
grade) and sequentially cleaned with distilled water and acetone
to remove contamination on the surface. The platinum mesh with
dimension of Ø 50.0 mm was used as the anode.
The Co and GO/Co composite coatings were fabricated using a
pulse electrodeposition at the temperature of 45.0 ◦ C for 2 h with
help of magnetic stirring at the speed of 800 rpm. The pulse on-time
(ton ) and pulse off-time (toff ) were 0.3 ms and 0.7 ms, respectively.
The average current density is 4.0 A dm−2 . The electrodeposi-
tion was conducted using an Intelligent Multiwave Electroplating
Equipment supplied by Handan Dashun Electroplating Equipment
Co. Ltd., China.
2.3. Characterizations of nanocrystalline Co and GO/Co coatings
The morphology of the GO was analyzed using a JEM-2010F
transmission electron microscope (TEM). The thickness of the GO
was measured using a Bruker Multimode 8 atomic force microscopy
(AFM). The phase structure of GO and the deposited samples were
characterized using a Philips X’pert X-ray diffractometer (XRD, Cu-
K␣ radiation) operating at 40 kV and 40 mA over the 2 range
5–80◦ . Raman spectra of the GO and GO/Co composite coating
were obtained using a Dilor Labram-1B multichannel confocal
microspectrometer in excitation of 514 nm and 20 mW laser.
The morphological characterizations of the Co and GO/Co
coatings were characterized using a FEI Quanta 200 scanning elec-
tron microscope (SEM). The distribution of GO in the composite
coatings were analyzed using the backscattered (BS)-SEM method.
The element mass fraction of the coatings was measured by Energy
Dispersed X-ray (EDX) microanalyzer attached with the Quanta
200 SEM from the same picture for the surface morphology analy-
sis. The microhardness was measured on a Vickers microhardness
tester with a load of 100 g applied for 10 s. Eight measurements
were made for each sample and the average value from the eight
replica tests were reported.
The friction and wear behaviors of the Co and GO/Co composite
coatings sliding against GCr15 steel ball with diameter of 4.0 mm
were tested on a ball-on-disk tribometer under dry sliding condi-
tions at room temperature and ambient humidity. The tests were
performed under sliding speed of 0.267 m s−1 and load of 2.0 N for
30 min. The diameters of wear tracks on coating were 15.0 mm.
After the wear tests, line profiles of the wear tracks were mea-
sured using the surface profile measurement system (BMT Expert
3D, Germany). The width and depth of the wear track were con-
verted into wear volume by the equipment software automatically.
The wear rates of all the coatings were calculated from K = V/S × F,
where V is the wear volume (mm3 ), S the total sliding distance (m)
and F the normal load (N). Three replicate friction and wear tests
were carried out for each specimen and the average was reported
with their errors. After sliding, the wear surfaces of the coatings
were analyzed using the Quanta 200 SEM.
Electrochemical corrosion test was carried out in a three elec-
trode cell. A platinum plate and saturated silver/silver chloride
(Ag/AgCl) electrode were used as the counter and reference elec-
trode, respectively. The as-deposited Co and GO/Co composite
coatings were used as the working electrode. Measurements were
performed by an electrochemical workstation (CorrTest CS310,
Wuhan Corr Test Instrument Co. Ltd., China) in a free-aerated
3.5 wt.% NaCl solution at room temperature. Before electrochem-
ical tests, samples were covered by paraffin wax but leaving a
1 cm2 surface area exposure to the corrosive medium for 30 min
to stabilize the system. The potentiodynamic polarization curves
were recorded at a sweep rate of 0.5 mV s−1 from −200 to 200 mV
versus the open circuit potential. As to electrochemical impedance
spectroscopy (EIS) tests, the employed amplitude of the sinu-
soidal signal was 10 mV, and the frequency range studied was from
105 to 10−2 Hz. ZView2 software was used for the data fitting of
impedance spectra. The average value from three replicates for each
kind of specimen was reported.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characterizations of GO
Fig. 1 shows the TEM image, AFM image, cross-section graph,
XRD pattern and Raman spectra of GO sheets prepared in this exper-
iment. As shown in Fig. 1a, the GO nanosheets are highly thin with
few numbers of layers and very transparent with wrinkles on the
surface, which is similar to the GO morphology reported by Si et al.
[19]. The AFM image and the cross-section graph in Fig. 1b and c
shows that the thickness of GO nanosheets is about 1.0 nm. Fig. 1d
shows that the carbon (0 0 1) characteristic peak of GO sheets at 10◦
is strong in the XRD pattern, which is same with the one reported
 C. Liu et al. / Applied Surface Science 351 (2015) 889–896 891

Fig. 1. TEM image (a), AFM image (b), cross-section graph (c), XRD pattern (d), and Raman spectra (e) of GO nanosheets.

by Marcano et al. [20]. As shown in Fig. 1e, the Raman spectra show against the gray cobalt matrix. Fig. 3c confirms that the incorpo-
two prominent peaks at 1586−1 and 1327−1 , which correspond to rated GO sheets are highly dispersed in the composite coating.
the G band (E2g phonon of C sp2 atoms) and the D band (␬-point Fig. 4 shows the XRD patterns of the Co and GO/Co compos-
phonon of A1g symmetry) of GO, respectively [21]. ite coatings. The Co coating displays strong hcp (1 1 0) texture. In
contrast, the strong peak at (1 1 0) and a few new peaks at (1 0 0),
(0 0 2) and (1 0 1) are observed in the XRD pattern of the GO/Co
3.2. Morphology and microstructure of the coatings
composite coatings. In addition, the signs of peak broadening are
observed in the GO/Co composite coating, which might be result of
The SEM images of the surfaces and cross-sections of the Co and
the decreasing grain size in the composite coating.
GO/Co composite coatings are shown in Fig. 2. The electroplated Co
The average grain size calculated using the Scherrer’s equation
coating exhibits a smooth surface, as shown in Fig. 2a. The magni-
from XRD pattern and the microhardness of the Co and GO/Co com-
fied images (Fig. 2b and c) demonstrated that the Co coating has
posite coatings are shown in Table 1. The average grain size of the Co
a conical shaped structure. This conical shaped structure is a typ-
coating is around 50 nm but it is decreased to about 20 nm because
ical way of field oriented texture, i.e., the preferential growth in
of the incorporations of the GO nanosheets. The results show that
the direction of electric field [22]. Fig. 2d shows the cross-sectional
the produced Co and GO/Co composite coatings by pulse electrode-
view of the Co coating. It can be seen that the Co coating exhibits a
position are nanocrystalline structure. In addition, Table 1 shows
flat surface with thickness about 50 ␮m. The surface of the GO/Co
that the GO/Co composite coating has higher hardness than the
composite coating becomes rough and seems to be covered with the
pure Co coating. These results suggest that the incorporations of
co-deposited GO and Co grains (Fig. 2e). The amplified SEM image
GO into the Co matrix favor the formation of hcp (1 0 0), (0 0 2) and
(Fig. 2f) demonstrates that the GO/Co composite coating is featured
(1 0 1) textures and have functions of grain refining and hardness
with a mass of protruding structures, which might result from the
enhancement.
incorporations of GO nanosheets in Co matrix. Fig. 2g shows the
The electrocrystallization of Co is known to be an inhibited pro-
enlarged image of the zone marked with a black circle in Fig. 2f.
cess [23]. The different crystal orientations of the Co and GO/Co
Some wrinkled GO sheets are found on the surface of the compos-
composite coatings might be attributed to the changes in inhibiting
ite coating. The cross-sectional view (Fig. 2h) shows that the GO/Co
species. During the process of electrodeposition, both Co hydroxide
composite coating has an uneven surface with average thickness
and hydrogen are formed and partially absorbed onto the cathode
about 45 ␮m. And, a semicircle protruding structure is observed on
surface and may lead to the formation of (1 1 0) preferred orien-
the cross-sectional view, agreeing well with the SEM image shown
tation in Co deposits. As regards the GO/Co composite coating,
in Fig. 2e.
the additions of GO in the electrolyte can absorb Co2+ ions and
Fig. 3a shows the EDX spectrum from the image of Fig. 2g.
Co complexes. The absorbed cations are attracted to the growth
The elements of C and O in the EDX spectrum might derive from
center carrying with GO particles, which will shield the growing
the incorporated GO in the composite coating. The Raman spec-
troscopy and BS-SEM image of the GO/Co composite coating surface
are shown in Fig. 3b and c, respectively. As shown in Fig. 3b, the Table 1
composite coating exhibits two characteristic peaks of GO, corre- Average grain size and microhardness of the Co and GO/Co composite coatings.
sponding to the D band at 1322 cm−1 and G band at 1594 cm−1 ,
Sample Average grain size (nm) Microhardness (kgf mm−2 )
which suggests that GO sheets are successfully incorporated in
the composite coatings by pulse electrodeposition. In the BS-SEM Co 50 ± 5 340 ± 10
Co/GO 20 ± 2 430 ± 15
image (Fig. 3c), the lower atomic mass of carbon appears black
892 C. Liu et al. / Applied Surface Science 351 (2015) 889–896

Fig. 2. SEM images of the surfaces and the cross-sections of the Co and GO/Co composite coatings ((a) the Co coating surface; (b) and (c) magnified image of (a); (d)
cross-section of the Co coating; (e) the GO/Co surface; (f) magnified image of (e); (g) the enlarged image of the marked zone in (f); (h) cross-section of the GO/Co coating).
 C. Liu et al. / Applied Surface Science 351 (2015) 889–896 893

Fig. 3. (a) EDX spectrum from the image of Fig. 2g; (b) Raman spectroscopy and (c) Backscattered (BS) SEM image of the GO/Co composite coating.

Fig. 4. XRD patterns of the Co coating (a) and the GO/Co composite coating (b).

centers from cations in electrolyte and prevent the further growth
of Co grains. In this condition, re-nucleation occurs preferably on
(1 0 0), (0 0 2) and (1 0 1) facets. However, the inhibitor species are
not enough to affect the electrocrystallization of all grains. Thus,
the (1 1 0) preferred orientations still exist. In addition, there is
a competition between the nucleation and crystal growth during
the growth of the electrodeposited layer [24], the GO nanosheets
absorbed on to the cathode surface hinder the crystal growth and
increase nucleation sites for reduction of Co ions during deposition,
which results in grain refining in the GO/Co composite coating [15].
3.3. Wear and corrosion resistance of the coatings
Typical friction coefficient curves of the Co and GO/Co composite
coatings are shown in Fig. 5. The friction coefficient of the Co coat-
ing increases steadily with the increase of the sliding distance till
reaching 0.70 after sliding for 200 m. After that, it maintains at that
level till the end of the test. In contrast, the friction coefficient of
the GO/Co composite coating increase rapidly and reach 0.25 after
a short running distance less than 10 m and then experiences a long
and slight increase up till reaching 0.36 at the end of the test.
Fig. 6 shows the average friction coefficients and wear rates of
the Co and GO/Co composite coatings. The average friction coeffi-
cient of the GO/Co composite coating is 0.33 that is much smaller
than 0.65 for the pure Co coating. In addition, the wear rate of
the composite coating is lower than that of the pure Co coating.
The results confirm that the GO/Co composite coating has supe-
rior friction reduction and wear resistance than the Co coating.
The significant decrease of the friction coefficient and wear rate
for the GO/Co composite coating can be explained as follow. First,
as one of the emerging self-lubricating materials, the uniformly

Fig. 6. Average friction coefficients and wear rates of the Co and GO/Co composite
Fig. 5. Typical friction coefficient curves of the Co and GO/Co composite coatings. coatings.
894 C. Liu et al. / Applied Surface Science 351 (2015) 889–896

Fig. 7. SEM images of the wear scars for the Co and GO/Co composite coatings ((a–c) the Co coating; (d–f) the GO/Co composite coating).

distributed GO nanosheets in the composite coating lead to a sig-
nificant decrease of friction coefficient. Pan et al. [25] found that the
incorporations of GO into monomer casting nylon largely reduced
wear and friction under dry sliding. Kinoshita et al. [26] found that
adding GO monolayer in water improved lubricating properties
and provided a very low friction coefficient of approximately 0.05
with no obvious surface wear after 60,000 cycles of friction test-
ing. Second, the wear rate is inversely proportional to the hardness
of material according to the classical Archard’s law. As evidenced
before, the inclusions of GO enhance the hardness of the composite
coating resulting in the improved wear resistance.
SEM images of the wear scars on the Co and GO/Co composite
coatings after rubbing are shown in Fig. 7. As shown in Fig. 7a, a clear
and continuous wear scar is observed on the surface of the Co coat-
ing. On the contrary, the wear scar on the GO/Co composite coating
is discontinuous (Fig. 7d). The amplified SEM images of the wear
scars in Fig. 7a and d are, respectively shown in Fig. 7b and e. When
compared to the complete wear occurred on the surface of the Co
coating (Fig. 7b), just a partial surface has experienced scuffing and
wear for the GO/Co composite coating (Fig. 7e). To interpret the
different wear mechanisms between the two coatings, the higher
magnifying SEM images of Fig. 7b and e are shown in Fig. 7c and f,
respectively. The wear surface of the Co coating is very rough and
featured with severe plastic deformation, as shown in Fig. 7c. Fish-
scale like structure is observed on this wear surface. These results
demonstrate that the severe adhesive wear has occurred during the
rubbing process for the pure Co coating. It is reasonable to conclude
that the severe adhesive wear results in the plastic deformation and
accelerates the wear the pure Co coating. In contrast, the wear sur-
face of the GO/Co composite coating is featured with slight plastic
deformation, as shown in Fig. 7f. In addition, a few shallow scratches
are also observed on this wear surface. It can be concluded that
the composite coating has suffered from the abrasive wear and the
slight adhesive wear.
The potentiodynamic polarization curves of the Co and GO/Co
composite coatings measured in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solutions are shown
in Fig. 8a. The corrosion potential (Ecorr ), corrosion current density
(icorr ) and corrosion rate are calculated using the program CorShow
from the potentiodynamic polarization curves. The calculated val-
ues are listed in Table 2. As shown in Table 2, the Ecorr of the Co and
the GO/Co coatings do not have much difference. The difference
around 40 mV is not enough to permit a clear distinction between
the electrochemical behaviors of the samples examined [27]. How-
ever, the icorr of GO/Co composite coating is more than three times
decreases from Co coating. The GO/Co composite coating exhibits
low corrosion rate, approximately 31% that of Co coating. The result

Fig. 8. Potentiodynamic polarization curves (a), Nyquist plots (Inset: the equivalent circuit used to fit the EIS data) (b), and Bode plots (c) of the Co and GO/Co composite
coatings measured in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution.
 C. Liu et al. / Applied Surface Science 351 (2015) 889–896
Table 2
Corrosion potential (Ecorr ), corrosion current density (icorr ) and corrosion rate of the
Co and GO/Co composite coatings.
Sample Ecorr (mV) icorr (A·cm−2 ) Corrosion rate(mm y−1 )
Co −
314.9 9.70 × 10−6 4.98 × 10−2
−
GO/Co 359.7 3.04 × 10−6 1.56 × 10−2
shows that the GO/Co composite coating displays much better cor-
rosion resistance than the Co coating.
The Nyquist plots and Bode plots of the Co and GO/Co compos-
ite coatings measured in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution are shown in Fig. 8b
and c, respectively. The equivalent circuit inserted in Fig. 8b is used
to fit the EIS data. The diameter of the capacitive loop in the Nyquist
plots represents the polarization resistance of the work electrode.
As shown in Fig. 8b, the GO/Co composite coating exhibits an
impedance value around 1.0 × 104  cm2 that is more than two
times higher than the Co coating (0.4 × 104  cm2 ). It is clear that
the GO/Co composite coating possesses higher impedance modu-
lus than the Co coating at low frequency, as shown in Fig. 8c. These
results further confirm that the GO/Co composite coating has better
corrosion resistance than the pure Co coating.
The better corrosion resistance of the GO/Co composite coating
might be attributed to its smaller grain size. The smaller grain size
for a coating can provide a much smaller cathode/anode surface
ration against localized corrosion due to the evenly distributed cor-
rosion current, which benefits the resistance to corrosion [28,29].
In addition, when the Co or its composite coating is immersed
in NaCl solution, Cl− , a kind of strong adsorption anion, tends to
preferentially absorb on the special site, such as the defect of the
coatings. Then the coating is corroded to form soluble CoCl2 . The
dissolution of CoCl2 leads to more defects in the coating, which
will accelerate the penetration of corrosive medium into the matrix
and then destroy the coating quickly. As evidenced before, the
GO nanosheets are incorporated and uniformly disperse in the as-
prepared GO/Co matrix. The presence of GO in the bath solution
is incorporated into the crevices, gaps and micron holes of the
coating, which prevents the corrosive medium (Cl− ) from erod-
ing the coating [30,31]. Moreover, the corrosion path is seriously
distorted because of the incorporations of GO nanosheets in the Co
matrix. The corrosive medium (Cl− ) is blocked and cannot reach
the interface of coatings and substrate, which favors the improve-
ment of the corrosion resistance [32]. Because of these reasons, the
GO/Co composite coating displays lower icorr and corrosion rate in
the potentiodynamic polarization test as well as higher impedance
value and impedance modulus in the EIS test.
4. Conclusions
In this paper, nanocrystalline Co and GO/Co composite coatings
were successfully produced by pulse electrodeposition from an
aqueous bath containing cobalt sulfate and GO, etc. The incor-
porations of GO nanosheets greatly affect the phase structure,
morphologies, hardness, tribological properties and corrosion
resistance of the resulting composite coatings. The conical shaped
structure of the pure Co coating is converted to be the protruding
structure for the GO/Co composite coatings. In addition, the co-
deposition of GO with Co ions favor the formation of hcp (1 0 0),
(0 0 2) and (1 0 1) textures in the composite coating and have the
functions of refining grain size and hardness enhancement. More-
over, the incorporations of GO nanosheets substantially improve
the friction reduction, wear resistance and corrosion resistance of
the deposited coating. The improved friction and wear properties
of the GO/Co composite coating might be attributed to its increased
hardness and the self-lubricating performances of the incorporated
GO nanosheets.
895
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the support of the National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (Grants: 51275176) and the
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grants:
2014ZG0014) for financial support.
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