Experimental Investigation of the Effect of ZnO-Citrus sinensis Nano-additive on the Electrokinetic Deposition of Zinc on Mild Steel in Acid Chloride

This work investigated the effect of ZnO-Citrus sinensis nano-additive on the electrokinetic deposition of Zinc on mild steel in acid chloride. Fifty-four plates of (100 × 10 × 3) mm³ mild steel samples were cut, cleaned with dilute H₂SO₄ solution, rinsed in water and dried. The nano-additive was produced by infusing 30 ml Orange Juice extract in Zinc Oxide solution. The acid chloride electrolyte consisting of 71 g ZnCl, 207 g KCl and 35 g H₃BO₃ in 1 l of distilled water was divided into six portions. The nano-additive with different molar concentrations 0(0.2)1.0 was added to each portion of the acid chloride. Nine plates of mild steel samples were electroplated with zinc as the anode in each of the six prepared electrolyte solution and plated at different times (three plates each at 10, 15 and 20 min). The effects of electroplating on the average weights were measured and the results from the experiment showed the optimal nano-additive concentration and electroplating time.