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Title: Periodic electrodeposition of alloys

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6197723

An experimental and theoretical investigation of periodic alloy electrodeposition is presented. A mathematical model is developed for the electrodeposition of alloys by an arbitrarily specified cell-current or electrode-potential waveform. Transient, convective mass transfer, Butler-Volmer electrode kinetics, and individual component activities in the electrodeposit are considered. Theoretical predictions are compared with experimental results for electrodeposition of cadmium telluride onto a rotating disk electrode. Analytical techniques clearly illustrated the efffect of the cell-current waveform on the electrodeposit morphology and physical properties. A series solution is presented for the ionic concentrations during triangular current-sweep chronopotentiometry at a rotating disk electrode, and at a stationary, planar electrode in the absence of free convection. The treatment is valid for electrode processes with one electrochemical reaction of uniform rate along the electrode surface. The advantages of controlled-current processes, relative to controlled-potential processes, for obtaining kinetic, thermodynamic, and transport information are elucidated. Theoretical predictions are compared with results obtained for the deposition of cadmium from a dilute, equeous, cadmium-sulfate/potassium-sulfate electrolyte. The cadmium telluride material electrodeposited in the alloy study is photovoltaic and semiconducting.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098
OSTI ID:
6197723
Report Number(s):
LBL-20500; ON: DE86006269
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products. Thesis
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English