Fabrication and characterization of Ni-decorated h-BN powders with ChCl-EG ionic liquid as addition by electroless deposition

Ni-decorated h-BN powders are fabricated with ChCl-EG as additive via electroless plating in the paper. As comparison, the different additive concentration of choline chloride-ethylene glycol (ChCl-EG) ionic liquid (0 g l(−1), 30 g l(−1), 60 g l(−1), 90 g l(−1)) is presented. The effects of ChCl-EG concentration are studied, including the surface morphologies, phase analysis of Ni-decorated h-BN powders and the residual Ni(2+) concentration is measured in electroless plating bath. It is demonstrated that the deposition phenomena of nickel particles on h-BN surface is changed with the addition of ChCl-EG. When the concentration of ChCl-EG is 30 g l(−1), the Ni particles on h-BN surface are in dispersed and spheroid state with the average size of 10–1000 nm. It can be found that 30 g l(−1) ChCl-EG is conducive to the arise of deposition phenomena, which is the formation of the single nickel particle on h-BN surface. Besides, more Ni particles are deposited on h-BN surface with the increase of nickel plating times, which is characterized with scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. Furthermore, the deposition phenomenon and growth mechanism are proposed without and with ChCl-EG as additive to further elaborate the formation of Ni particles on h-BN surface.