On the electrodepositing of cobalt nanoparticles on ITO in the presence of boric acid

Cyclic voltammetry, the magneto-optical Kerr effect, and atomic force microcopy are used to study the effect of boric acid on electrodeposited Co nanoparticles (NPs). The results show that the adsorption of boric acid increases the population density of Co NPs and that the texture of the Co NPs is strongly varied by the boric acid due to a variety of dissociated boric acid forms. The c-axis of the electrodeposited Co nanoparticles has an increasing tendency to lie on an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) surface when boric acid is added. This causes the Co NPs to have an in-plane easy axis of magnetization when a higher concentration of boric acid is used. The addition of boric acid is an efficient way to control the texture of Co NPs. A possible mechanism of how boric acid affects the magnetic and structural properties of electrodeposited Co NPs is discussed in this paper.