Black chromium coatings were electrodeposited from a trivalent chromium bath using a ZnO additive as a second main component. Black chromium was electrodeposited on steel and copper plates and substrates plated with bright nickel prior to black chromium electrodeposition. The black chromium coatings were characterized by XRD and SEM. The XRD data suggest that the phase structure of black chromium may be defined as a zinc solid solution in chromium or a chromium solid solution in zinc depending on the chromium/zinc ratio in the deposit. The role of substrate finish was evaluated through the corrosion resistance and reflectance of black chromium. According to corrosion tests the samples plated with bright nickel prior to black chromium deposition have shown the highest corrosion resistance. The electrodepo sited black chromium possesses good optical properties for the absorption of solar energy. The absorption coefficient of black chromium was found to be over 0.99 for the samples obtained without the Ni undercoat and below 0.99 for those obtained with the use of Ni undercoat. However, the use of nickel undercoat before black chromium plating is recommended because it remarkably improves the corrosion resistance of samples. (C) 2014 Elsevier BY. All rights reserved.