Greetings,

I'm doing some hobby electroplating and need more common and relatively non-toxic reagents. So far, I have used vinegar as the electrolyte and plated copper onto iron with some success.

Aside from the stoichiometry, I have found the electrical aspect of plating to be as important. This manifested with applied voltage, distance between electrodes (current) and if the solution is being agitated.

There is much to be improved from my vinegar experiments because there are undoubtedly many side reactions occuring.

I am aware I can buy premade plating solutions such as copper II acetate but I have a chemistry course coming up that involves the titration of acetate from vinegar. I am looking forward these courses on synthesis.

In the meantime, I'm playing around with what's cheap and available. I'm sure a few here have dabbled in this dark art. If you've done some plating, post pics and be proud.

 

Another often used solution for plating is copper sulfate, commonly available at nearly any hardware store; used as root killer in septic systems. I've used CuSO4 solutions in the past to plate carbon rods, but don't have any examples to show.

 

Plating is both science and skill. But there are books available from plating chemical suppliers that convey a vast amount of information. I have done copper plating using the acid from a retired 12 volt wet cell battery. That worked fairly well. Caution, battery acid is nasty stuff and it attacks human skin rapidly.