Electroplating for Decorative Applications: Recent Trends in Research and Development

Abstract

Electroplating processes are widely employed in industrial environments for a large variety of metallic coatings, ranging from technological to decorative applications. Even if the galvanic electrodeposition is certainly a mature technology, new concepts, novel applications, environmental legislation and the new material requirements for next-generation devices make the scientific research in this field still very active. This review focuses mostly at the decorative and wearable applications, and aims to create a bridge between the past knowledge and the future direction that this process, i.e., electrodeposition, is taking. Both the theoretical fundamentals as well as some of the most widespread practical applications-limited to metallic and alloy coatings-are explored. As an integral part of the industrial process, we take a look at the main techniques thought which the quality control of deposits and surfaces is carried out. Finally, global industrial performance and research directions towards sustainable solutions are highlighted.

Ultrawide Bandgap and High Sensitivity of a Plasmonic Metal-Insulator-Metal Waveguide Filter with Cavity and Baffles

“…Thanks to the fast progress in nanophotonic, the fabrication of the proposed structure is achievable with current technologies [ 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 ], allowing the cost-effective fabrication over a large area. A similar structure of a MIM waveguide with a central-coupled rectangular cavity has previously been fabricated using physical vapor deposition and a focused ion beam for etching the rectangular cavity [ 79 ].…”

Corrosion Resistance Test of Electroplated Gold and Palladium Using Fast Electrochemical Analysis

“…The sequence of the layers and their thickness is shown in Table 1. We used typical galvanic bath used in jewellery industry with the same ranges of thicknesses and layer sequences [29]. To have a simple system we used only a single non-precious metal layer and one precious layer, since gold is not stable if electroplated directly on copper.…”

Bathless Inorganic Composite Nickel Plating: Dry‐Cell Stamping of Large Hygroscopic Phosphor Crystals

“…However, despite its widespread usage in charge storage technology, we are not aware of a report on using this dry‐cell system for electrochemical plating, and this report may offer a new perspective for research and development in this broad and highly studied area. For example, the US market for electroplating is projected to increase to $21 billion in 2026 despite environmental concerns about hazardous waste generated from spent liquid baths …”