A study of the electrodeposition of Co–Cu alloys thin films on FTO substrate

Abstract

In this work, the early stages and the properties of the electrodeposition process of Co-Cu alloys thin films on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)-coated conducting glass substrate from a sulfate bath were investigated using conventional electrochemical techniques and X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). FTO was chosen as a foreign substrate because of its high transparence and its properties as inert material. Within the potential range analyzed, the kinetics of the Co-Cu electrodeposition corresponded to a model including instantaneous nucleation on active sites and diffusion controlled cluster growth. The number of active sites of the substrate, N 0 , and the diffusion coefficient, D, were determined from the analysis of potentiostatic current transients on the basis of existing theoretical models. XRD patterns of the Co-Cu alloys thin films display fcc and hcp phase, with peaks quite close to those of the Co phase (fcc and hcp). Therefore, the variation of the composition of thin films alloy is possible depending on the deposition potential.

In‐situ formation of an efficient trimetallic (CuZnAg) electrocatalyst for water oxidation

“…Figure 1C demonstrates the growth of trimetallic catalyst (CuZnAg) on the surface of FTO electrode by cathodic chronoamperometry at different values of deposition potentials ranging from −1.1 to −1.4 V vs Ag/AgCl (3 M KCl) in 1 M KOH electrolyte. The cathodic current of the designed catalyst displayed similar behavior as reported by the previous investigators 54‐56 . Furthermore, the synergetic effect of the two metals is obvious from chronoamperometry graphs (Figure 1A,B) i.e., the higher the potential the more the deposition is due to more active sites being available.…”

“…The SEM micrographs of individual and binary metals deposited on FTO are given in the supporting information (Figures S7‐S10). A literature report also supports the presence of such alloys in the SEM images of CuZn deposition 56 …”

“…The cathodic current of the designed catalyst displayed similar behavior as reported by the previous investigators. [54][55][56] Furthermore, the synergetic effect of the two metals is obvious from chronoamperometry graphs ( Figure 1A,B) i.e., the higher the potential the more the deposition is due to more active sites being available. The role of Ag in enhancing the cathodic current of Zn Cu is evident from the comparison of the currents shown in Figure 1C (see current values at −1.4 V) and hence strengthens our argument in favor of alloying three metals.…”

“…A literature report also supports the presence of such alloys in the SEM images of Cu Zn deposition. 56 Figure 5A shows EDX mapping images of Cu Zn Ag film deposited on FTO substrate at −1.4 V for 900 seconds. The color scheme in EDX mapping results ( Figure 5B-F special distributions for Cu, Zn, and Ag were almost identical to each other, demonstrating the successful formation of Cu Zn Ag trimetallic compounds on FTO surface.…”

Comparison of Microstructural and Morphological Properties of Electrodeposited Fe-Cu Thin Films with Low and High Fe : Cu Ratio

“…Among them, Fe-Cu films find applications in electronic industry [2]. Electrodeposition is a versatile growth process for the fabrication of metallic thin film materials, which find applications in electronics, magnetoelectronics, magnetic recording, and microsystems industries due to its some unique features [3][4][5][6][7]. Aside from this, electrodeposition process also provides the deposition under ambient temperature and pressure and does not require relatively expensive equipment [6,8].…”