The present paper deals with the deposition and characterisation of zinc oxide coatings on mild steel substrates by cathodic electrolytic deposition via a 0·1M zinc nitrate aqueous solution. The influence of the deposition parameters, such as applied cathodic potential and deposition time, on the growth of oxide coatings was also investigated. The protection efficiency of these coatings on the mild steel was examined by a potentiodynamic polarisation technique in 0·3M NaCl solution (pH = 5·5, T = 25°C). The obtained results showed that the ZnO coatings improve the anticorrosion performance of mild steel.
