Electrolysis - updated with photos

Congrats on your progress

Since zinc is needed under copper

Im wondering what percent of people would choose just zinc plating, and what proportion of people would prefer copper

Some dont like copper, im one who does. So i would vote for copper.

Maybe at some point, a poll?

Zincate wouldn’t work too well here, since electroless zincate plating makes for a very thin coating. But if people want an electroplated zinc coating, it would work well.

Something like:

- Deanodized

- Copper

- Nickel

- Zinc

- Silver(+ min qty needed)

  • Gold salts(+ min qty needed)

I’ll post my progress in a few minutes to show you what I’ve made.
I won’t make any progress this week though because of exams.

Guys, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do anything related to copper plating on aluminium.

Making zincate is easy, but getting a copper solution that will actually stick to aluminium is a nightmare.

This will be postponed indefinitely.

Aluminum oxidizes almost instantly in air. That’s why welding it is so darn hard. Just to test, submerge some aluminum and sand it with sand paper. Leave it in the solution, and fire up the rig. Hopefully the sanded area will plate. If this works, then you can always brainstorm on a chemical de-oxidizer method for the next go round.

no worries, I think Gold would be nice
yeah, some say Im a Dreamer… LOL

I haven’t plated gold, but I don’t think it’s scary expensive at all. So little is needed it’s fairly reasonable per light.

I Googled for some evidence to back it up. Found this post:

@Joshk and jon_slider, I have no problem getting the zinc to stick.

It’s the copper that I can’t wrap my head around. I know what materials I need, but I do not have access to them.

Aluminium is probably the holy grail of plating metals.
If I can manage to do this, then anything else is much easier.

What do you need?

Pyrophosphate mainly.

I can easily dissolve any copper into solution using a galvanic cell process at high concentrations(8-10g/L), but I specifically need Pyrophosphate as a weak base for the zinc to be etched away, but the copper to stick.

Sodium cuprate(copper dissolved in sodium hydroxide) does etch the zinc, and plates copper, but sodium hydroxide attacks the aluminium, meaning you get a gap between the aluminium and copper, and copper does not stick.

If I get can get Pyrophosphate, then I’ll easily be set for making copper plated lights.

If you have access to pyrophosphate, I’m willing to pay a nice buck to get it shipped here.

I’d need about 1-2kgs.

I don’t have any. All I can do is drop an email to a guy on youtube that knows his chemistry. I sent a short email to Cody at Cody’s Lab to see if the topic pique’s his interest. If so maybe he can join the conversation about making some, or do a project on his channel in the future about the topic.

Yeah, thanks a lot, but I don’t think Cody is going to be interested by this.

Anyway, I’ve dropped emails to suppliers in Canada and some on Alibaba to see if I can get small quantities of pyrophosphate(1-3kgs) for a small batch for electroplating.

Fair enough. I for one would love to learn more about this electroplating process. And as you said info is scarce. Seems like a perfect challenge for an educational YouTuber focused on chemistry.

Yeah.

Actually, I think someone like Cody would be very interested in learning how to electroplate aluminium.

I mean I’ve discovered tons of stuff in this process:

1. How to make sulfuric acid using Epsom salt using a galvanic cell electrolysis.
2. How to make sodium zincate for electroless plating of aluminium using electrolysis, or for higher concentrations, reverse galvanic cell electrolysis.
3. How to make copper sulfate using electrolysis, or for higher concentrations, galvanic cell electrolysis.
4. Making sodium cuprate as strike copper plating(not flash copper) on non-aluminium parts.

I’m also currently in the process of making a shiny copper sulfate solution using small quantities of ammonium hydroxide as a surfactant, tiny quantities of sodium hydroxide as an emulsifier, and hydrochloric acid for a small chloride solution etch.

Say, do you guys think I should make another thread for this?

This is an electrolysis thread, so a de-anodizing tutorial and electroplating thread would be great.

Because I’d rather make a thread in which I put up tutorials on how to:

- De-anodize effectively and safely .

- Prepare diverse copper/nickel plating solutions, and other materials if deemed necessary.

  • And most importantly, how to recycle plating materials for safe disposal.

That last one is especially important.

Before disposing of my sodium hydroxide solution, I actually thought about running my electroplating setup in reverse using a carbon rod to get the copper out of the solution.

And I managed to get a pure sodium hydroxide along with some pure copper.

Sounds good. Perhaps with links to your other threads.

yes :-), so you can document your thoughts and link to them from here

Yes. A new thread would make it easier to find. :+1:

Sorry to revive the old thread but its quite hard to find people with a similar interest in this chemistry.

I’ve done some testing here involving copper deposition on aluminum based on a video by Simpletronic.
Uses only ferric chloride (muriatic acid, steel wool, hydrogren peroxide), copper sulphate and salt.

I’ve achieved some minor success here. The shiny portion is good copper that sticks properly on the aluminum. When put into a copper electroplating bath, that area is plated fine, although the surrounding area is dirty brown that only accumulates clumps of copper goo. Need to repeat some test why that particular area is so successful. I suspect I will need to sand, clean, lye dip, rinse to achieve minimal contamination.
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